


Tony's Trials or 'What Tony Did Next' part 2

by Ytteb



Series: What Tony Did Next [2]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 17:37:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6204538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ytteb/pseuds/Ytteb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of what happened when Tony left the team. How does Gibbs cope without Tony, how does McGee cope with being Senior Field Agent?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to "What Tony did next". You don't need to have read that one to follow this ... you just need to know that Tony left NCIS to go into partnership with Gregory Archibald in running his rundown movie theatre in Seymour Boulevard in Washington. The team have to come to terms with his leaving.

Special Agent Gibbs took a cautious sip of his steaming brew, rolled the coffee round his mouth and then swallowed it. He thought for a moment or two and then said,

"Not bad, DiNozzo, not bad," and he proved the truth of his words by taking another, less cautious gulp.

"At last," said Tony, with a relieved sigh, "I thought it was tough enough writing  _case reports_  for you but brewing coffee is a whole new ball game".

Gibbs grinned at his former Senior Field Agent,

"I'm guessing Radhika's a hard taskmaster ... er mistress ... er person? Hell, I don't know what the politically correct term is."

"Didn't think you'd care, notBoss," said Tony. He couldn't get out of the habit of calling Gibbs, 'Boss' and hadn't quite graduated to 'Jethro'. 'NotBoss' was his compromise, "Vance got you going to the Sensitivity seminars again?"

"Humph," muttered Gibbs, "McGee forgot to double-book us,"

"Ah," said Tony, "I might have forgotten to tell McGee about his responsibilities for imaginative diary management ... there were other more important things to induct him into".

They sat in silence for a moment or two. Tony didn't want to look as if he was trying to find out how McGee was doing in his old job and Gibbs didn't want to make it seem either that McGee was doing a bad job or, alternatively, was doing such a wonderful job that Gibbs wondered how he had put up with Tony doing it for so long. On the whole, Gibbs thought that Tony seemed a lot more laid back away from the competitive edge of the squad room but he was familiar with Tony's insecurities and didn't want to 'press any of his buttons'. He found it much more relaxing being Tony's friend than working out how to manage him. Gibbs looked round at the coffee bar in which they were sitting.

"It's cleaned up well."

Tony looked pleased. The coffee bar at the movie theatre had been built in the 1950s and hadn't had much money spent on it since. Tony, and as many of his friends who he could persuade, had spent several weeks cleaning and painting and had restored it to its 1950s, now very trendy, glory. Tony was still working on persuading the waitresses to wear beehive hairstyles and rock and roll skirts but they were proving resistant to his charms.

"Yeah, it's good. And if nothing else, I've learned more about painting and decorating than I ever wanted to. This 'running your own business' gig certainly broadens the horizons".

Gibbs took another appreciative sip of his coffee,

"Certainly turned into a pretty fair barista, any chance of a refill?" As Tony filled the mug again, Gibbs asked, "Why the urge to learn to make the coffee?"

"Makes sense. That way I can stand in for Radhika or the others. Can't risk caffeine addicts having to go without," he raised his own mug in a wry gesture towards Gibbs, "because no-one's around to man the machine. Anyway, I think I should know how everything works, good business sense and people like to see the boss doing the grunt work."

Gibbs raised a sardonic eyebrow. He knew that Tony thought his former boss was a past master at delegating 'grunt work'. "We all have different ways of working, Tony," he said mildly.

"I know, Boss ... notBoss. Wasn't a criticism, let's just say I favour the collegial approach".

Gibbs nodded, thinking that it made a change not to have to insist on his own way but to let Tony have his own opinion. He missed Tony as his SFA more than he had expected but he was beginning to think there were consolations in having acquired a friend instead. That didn't seem quite right, he had always considered Tony as something approaching a friend but had always been conscious of his leadership role to which everything else had to be subordinated.

"How's Archie?" he asked.

He was surprised to see Tony's happy expression fade as he frowned. Gregory Archibald, known as Archie to nearly everyone, had been living a rather lonely, depressed sort of life until Tony DiNozzo had steamed into it one day while investigating a series of local burglaries. Seymour Boulevard Movie Theatre had been running to seed along with its owner but Tony had seemed to see potential in both. He had described Archie as the most knowledgeable person about movies he had ever met and a great projectionist as well. It seemed to be a partnership made in heaven. Tony had been looking for a new challenge, had (unexpectedly) had the money to put into the theatre and an abundance of enthusiasm and ideas about how to breathe new life into the place. He had a vision of the theatre as somewhere for the community to gather, a 'safe place' where the generations could come together. A somewhat shell-shocked Archie had seemed to embrace the changes.

"Problem?" asked Gibbs, "Thought it was going OK."

"So did I," said Tony thoughtfully, "perhaps I've overwhelmed him a bit".

"That wouldn't be surprising," said Gibbs drily, "you take a bit of getting used to! And you've certainly changed things a lot, I guess it might take a bit of adjustment too. Perhaps he liked the shabby chic look."

"Wow, you've really got into those Sensitivity lectures, haven't you, notBoss?  ’Shabby chic' – have you been taking lessons from McGee and taken out a subscription to Red Book? But, no, I don't think Arch minded saying goodbye to the dust bunnies. He's a real movie person, he hated seeing it go to rack and ruin".

"Then what's the problem?" asked Gibbs.

"Not sure," said Tony as he took another sip of his drink, "I don't think he likes so many people being around. He used to help out with selling tickets but now he holes himself up in the screening room and doesn't come out until everyone's gone".

"Perhaps he's shy," said Gibbs.

"Could be," agreed Tony, "but at one stage he agreed to give some talks about the work of being a projectionist, to do some hands on demonstrations but when I talked about doing some publicity, he just shut down and said he'd changed his mind".

"Teaching, public speaking. Not everyone's bag," offered Gibbs.

"Yeah, I know," said Tony, "but I thought he'd enjoy it. Ducky came round last night – said he wanted to test Radhika's tea making skills! But it was really to talk to Arch about the Ealing comedies and Scotland but Arch just sat there and didn't say anything. And I know you'll say that it's difficult to get a word in edgeways with Ducky but that's not really true. Ducky's good at drawing people out and he and Arch used to get on really well. I swear, you'd listen to them and they'd both start talking with this Scottish brogue ... and Arch has never lived in Scotland even if that's where his mom came from!"

"Did they have a falling out?" asked Gibbs.

Tony looked incredulous, "How many people do you know who've quarrelled with Ducky? He's a gentleman. No, it seems that Arch has just closed himself off. He was all right until that article appeared in the 'Bugle'."

Gibbs remembered Abby's excitement when Tony and Archie's picture had appeared in the community newspaper. She had raced into the squad room with a bundle of the papers. Her friend Hope Martin edited the 'Washington Bugle' and was always on the lookout for local human interest stories. Seymour Boulevard Movie Theatre's phoenix-like rise from the ashes, or the dust, was just such a story and she had been happy to write an article and put Tony and Archie on the front page.

"Look," Abby had said happily, "Tony and Archie, don't they look handsome. And look, they're pointing at the sign you made for them, Gibbs."

"Hope was excited about the article," said Tony, "there was talk of some of the national papers wanting to run the story, of a couple of TV crews coming. It would be great publicity."

"But ...?" asked Gibbs.

"Haven't heard any more about it, it's all gone quiet. I keep meaning to phone her but haven't had a chance. This being a 'Tony of all trades' is a bit time-consuming you know."

"You're looking well on it, anyway," said Gibbs unsympathetically, "and I could put a good word in with Vance if you fancy coming back to the Navy Yard."

Tony looked surprised, "You'd have me back?"

"Sure," said Gibbs, straight-faced, "the coffee stall could do with a new barista."

"Ha ha," said Tony good naturedly, "I walked into that one. McGee's coming in after work to talk about his scout troop coming to do some work towards their movie making badge. Could you take this coffee to Arch? He is in the projection room."

"It'll cost you a refill. I might stick around and see if I can have a chat with him."

Tony dutifully filled the two cups, simultaneously shuddering as he estimated Gibbs' caffeine intake and as he imagined Archie's reaction to the prospect of a cosy chat with Gibbs. McGee arrived shortly after Gibbs had left on his mercy mission. Tony took one look at his harried face and hastened to make him a Blue Hawaii triple de-caffeinated, slim line cappuccino with extra cream, reduced foam and cinnamon on top.

"Thanks, Tony," said a grateful Tim, "I needed that. I found a new way of riling Gibbs today."

"Hmmm," said Tony, "I heard about the Sensitivity lecture. Rookie mistake, McNovice. Still, now you know. With your skills you should be able to hack into Vance's secretary's office diary and see when these things are coming up and act accordingly."

"How did you manage?" queried Tim, "you didn't hack into anything did you?"

"Didn't need to," said Tony smugly, "I just used my charm."

"Huh," snorted Tim.

"... and several boxes of Godiva chocolates," added Tony.

Tim laughed at that and took another sip of his odd brew. "It was almost worth it to see Gibb's wounded expression: it was as if he'd just heard that the Marine Corps were changing their uniform colour to pink!"

"I first learnt the importance of boss diary management when I failed to stop us attending a week long course on 'Establishing your personality type and using that knowledge to work creatively and co-operatively with others'," reminisced Tony. "We were only there a day and a half."

"What happened?" asked McGee.

"We all agreed that we knew Gibbs' personality type and that it didn't do creative co-operation with others." Tony smiled and then continued with a touch of steel in his voice, "Of course, diary mishaps are a useful weapon, Probie-wan. They should be used sparingly, of course, but when you feel that the Boss has been too Gibbsian, they can allow you to administer a suitable punishment".

"Is that so?" came Gibbs's silky voice behind them. Tim gulped nervously and spilled his coffee. Tony smiled beatifically,

"Hypothetically speaking ... I never did that. Nice chat with Arch?"

"No. Couldn't get him to say much. Just 'yes', 'no' and grunt."

Tim and Tony exchanged a grin at the thought of Gibbs trying to make small talk with a reluctant Archie.

"I'm heading out now. See you tomorrow, McGee. Get hacking into that diary Tony was talking about because today was the last time I'm going to listen to someone telling me that wearing green to a meeting will make people want to co-operate with me!"

"I thought you'd fallen asleep by then, Boss," said McGee in a surprised voice. He caught Gibbs' glare and wiggled his fingers, "exercising these hacking fingers already".

Gibbs nodded brusquely and walked away, "Night, Tony. Good coffee." His gut gave its customary twinge as he left Tony behind. He sometimes felt he could hear something like an elastic band snap as he walked away and half expected other people to hear it too. He knew it wasn't rational but somehow he felt almost bereaved whenever he walked away from Tony and it was still a painful shock when he walked into the squad room and saw Tim sitting at 'Tony's' desk.

Gibbs shook himself and decided to try and resolve the mystery of Archie. He was puzzled. Tony had told him that Archie had also served as in the Marine Corps and, when he had first met Archie, they had exchanged stories about boot camp and other marine experiences. Gibbs thought that Archie had enjoyed those conversations. Lately, however, Archie had been reluctant to talk about his days as a soldier and had rebuffed Gibbs. He hadn't given it much thought until Tony had told him that Archie seemed to be avoiding other people as well. It seemed that Tony was the only person Archie was happy to be with – his eyes had momentarily lit up when he smelled the coffee Tony had sent, and then dimmed again when he realised that Tony hadn't brought it himself. Gibbs decided he'd talk to Ducky the next day.

"So, Tony," said McGee, once he was sure Gibbs had left, "did you have any other ways of 'punishing' Gibbs?"

"Oh, McInnocent," said Tony with a knowing expression, "the possibilities are endless!"

 


	2. Chapter 2

Gibbs went down to Autopsy to see Ducky the next day.

"Ah, Jethro, good morning. How may we help you this fine day? Although I fear that inclement weather is forecast for later. It makes me glad I no longer have to walk Mother's corgis although it must be said that I may be carrying a little extra weight as a result of not taking the little blighters for their daily constitutional. I really must think more about my fitness regimen ..."

"Duck?" interrupted Gibbs.

"I do beg your pardon, Jethro, I should have realised that you haven't come to visit these gloomy depths just to make small talk. How may I help?"

"Greg Archibald," said Gibbs.

"Ah, yes, Gregory. Anthony's new friend and business partner. I must say that I have been most impressed at the way Anthony has thrown himself into the movie theatre business. He has proved to be most versatile and very dedicated ... but you don't want to talk about Anthony, do you? What's troubling you, Jethro?"

"Tony says that Archie has gone all quiet and reclusive on him. I tried to talk to him last night but he clammed up on me."

If Ducky felt, like Tony and Tim that the picture of Gibbs trying to draw out a taciturn Archie was an unlikely one, he was too courteous to say so.

"I must admit that he has been less forthcoming with me in recent days than when we first met. He used to enjoy telling me his mother's stories about Scotland. He even spoke about lending me her shortbread recipe".

"Any idea why he's gone all silent?" asked Gibbs.

"I sometimes wish I'd never done that psychology degree," complained Ducky, "everyone expects me to have an insight into everything. What does your gut say, Jethro, you usually rely on that."

"Doesn't seem to be saying anything much at the moment, Duck," admitted Gibbs.

"Well," said Ducky, actually more than willing to express an opinion, "it is possible that Gregory is jealous. He can see that Anthony is close to both of us and feels that we are a threat to his friendship ..."

"Hell, he sees Tony more than we do," said Gibbs with a touch of bitterness. Ducky raised an eyebrow,

"Ahem, perhaps Gregory is not the only one who's jealous?" he said gently.

"All right, Ducky, I'll admit to missing having Tony around but I'm not  _jealous_."

Ducky might have continued the conversation but Abby burst in at that moment.

"Ah, my two favourite guys," she cooed, and gave them both a hug.

Gibbs remembered something that Tony had said yesterday, "Abs, your friend Hope, Tony said she thought the nationals might take an interest in the story she wrote about the movie theatre but he hasn't heard anything."

"That's odd. She was really excited about it. She's away for a couple of days, do you want me to ask her when she gets back?"

"Can't you phone her?" asked Gibbs.

"No, she's on a technology free retreat in the middle of an ancient woodland. She says it unfries her brainwaves. Me, I can't do without my machines ... but you'd like it, Gibbs. I'll get you the name of the company that runs it."

"Don't need anyone to help me arrange to get away from it all, Abs but you could threaten McGee with it."

"Not nice, Gibbs, not nice. Timmy needs his technology. I'll ask Hope as soon as she gets back."

"Thanks, Abs. Hey, how do you get on with Archie?"

"Oh, I  _love_  Archie. We've had some really good, deep conversation. He's  _very_ spiritual".

"When did you last speak with him, Abigail?" asked Ducky.

"A couple of nights ago. He's very interested in my work. I was telling him all about the deadly toxins I've found over the years. He was fascinated by how difficult some of them are to detect".

"Perhaps it's just us he doesn't like," said Ducky philosophically.

"Well, I still love you both," said Abby happily as they all went back to work.

NCISNCIS

It was a couple of days before Gibbs had a chance to see Tony again. He'd told Agent Fornell that Tony was thinking of starting up a children's cinema club on Saturday mornings. He arranged to meet Tobias at the theatre so he could talk about it with Tony to see if it was something Emily might enjoy.

Radhika was on duty in the coffee bar when Fornell and Gibbs arrived.

"Good evening, gentlemen," she said, "Agent Gibbs, Tony told me that you gave him a pass mark on the coffee he brewed for you. He was very proud!"

Gibbs smiled, "It wasn't bad. You must be a good teacher. This is Tobias. He prefers more 'wimpy' coffee."

"I'd be insulted," said Fornell, "but I don't want to risk burning a hole in my stomach by drinking what Jethro drinks. I'll have a cappuccino, please."

"Is Tony around?" asked Gibbs, "Tobias wants to talk to him about the new Saturday club."

"Humph," said Radhika discontentedly, "he is, but he shouldn't be".

"Why not?" asked Gibbs, amused that she was already so protective of her new employer.

"Because he spent the last thirty six hours throwing up," she explained and then said in a loud voice, " ** _He should be tucked up in bed at home, resting_ ".**

Gibbs and Fornell turned round to see Tony approaching. He did indeed look a bit pale and tired. He sat down on a stool beside them.

"I'm  _fine,"_  he said, "It was just a twenty-four hour bug."

"That lasted thirty six hours," said Radhika pointedly.

"Hey, I'm a nice guy, even the germs don't want to leave me."

"What was it?" asked Gibbs.

"Like I said, it was just a bug. It's going round."

"Not here, it's not," said Radhika. Gibbs found himself impressed by her tenacity.

"It's doing the rounds of my  _apartment block_ ," said Tony.

"Did you call Ducky?" asked Gibbs.

"It was a twenty-four bug, well, thirty six hours, in my case," said Tony, "there was no point in calling him. Something like that, you just have to ride it out. Tobias, welcome to Seymour Boulevard. Let me get you a leaflet about the new club".

At that moment, Archie came into the coffee bar, "Oh, and let me introduce you to my partner. Arch, come over here, I want you to meet someone."

Archie came nearer.

"Arch, this is Tobias Fornell. Tobias, meet Gregory Archibald."

The two men shook hands. Fornell looked at him with a curious expression on his face. Archie spoke first,

"Nice to meet you, Mr Fornell. Are you another former colleague of Tony's?"

"No," replied Fornell and Archie seemed to relax a little.

"Fornell is an FBI agent," said Gibbs. Fornell looked a little annoyed; off duty, he preferred people not to know that he was a federal agent. Archie swallowed,

"Radhika, can I have my usual, please?  I'll take it with me."

"Why not stay a few minutes," said Tony, "the next screening isn't for an hour."

"No ... I ... I want to get it all ready," said Archie and he was gone, clutching his coffee.

Tony sighed, "Can I have a cup of whatever it was you gave me earlier, Dika? It seemed to settle my stomach."

Despite being at least fifteen years Tony's junior, Radhika gave a motherly cluck and started brewing her patented stomach soother for him.

"Something up, Tobias?" asked Gibbs, seeing that his friend was looking pensively at where Archie had stood a moment or two before.

"No, nothing," said Fornell rather unconvincingly.

"Tobias?" said Gibbs with a touch of menace.

"It's nothing, Jethro. I was mistaken."

"About what?"

"About nothing. DiNozzo, tell me about this cinema club".

Tony willingly held forth for about ten minutes but then, despite the restorative effects of Radhika's brew, he began to flag. Old habits asserted themselves,

"DiNozzo, if you're not going to go home, go and lie down before you fall down," said Gibbs roughly. Tony stared at him and briefly considered standing up for himself but then decided that he didn't have the energy,

"OK," he said sulkily, "but only because I'd finished." He peeled himself off the stool, clutched his mug to his chest and tottered off to his office. Radhika looked approvingly at Gibbs and poured him a refill.

"Tobias," began Gibbs again.

"Jethro, leave it," said Fornell, "You know there are some things I can't talk to you about."

Gibbs' phone rang at that moment,

"Gibbs. OK, I'll meet you there." He put his cell back in his pocket, looked menacing at Fornell, "This isn't over but at the moment I have a missing petty officer to hunt down." He took another gulp of his coffee, looked a bit sadly at the remainder and then left. Fornell rubbed his chin thoughtfully and left shortly afterwards.

NCISNCIS

The missing petty officer kept the MCRT team occupied for the next few days so it wasn't until the weekend that Gibbs and McGee had time to go to Seymour Boulevard. Gibbs had tried to contact Fornell a few times but his calls hadn't been returned. He suspected he knew what Fornell was avoiding telling him: one of the few things that had to be kept secret were details of witness relocation.

Gibbs suspected that Archie had been given immunity from prosecution in return for testimony and then had been given a new identity. He didn't quite understand why Archie, or whatever his real name was, would have risked his safety by hooking up with DiNozzo but he'd probably underestimated how successful Tony would be in drawing people to the rundown theatre. Gibbs worried also that he might be after Tony's money; he was after all, better off than anyone had suspected.

Gibbs had decided that he would need to let McGee in on his suspicions and get him to hack into the FBI records but thought he would try and get some information out of Archie first. McGee had said that he was planning on going to the theatre early on Saturday to load some new software to the computer in the booking office. Gibbs said he would go along as well because he wanted to look at some of the seats in the theatre which Tony wanted help with restoring.

McGee and Gibbs arrived to find Tony standing forlornly in front of the lobby. The glass doors were cracked and bent and one was coming off its hinges.

"What happened, Tony?" asked Tim, "are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Waiting for Metro. I think it's been rammed. See the tyre marks. Someone tried to bash their way in. I was in the coffee bar, heard a screech and a crash but by the time I got out here, the car was gone".

"It'll be on your security cameras won't it?" asked Tim.

Tony winced, "The one by the door's not up and running yet. Another job I was meant to get round to but that dammed stomach flu put me behind schedule. This is payback for all the time I moaned about victims who didn't have their security in place – now I know how easy it is not to get round to it."

"Where's Archie?" asked Gibbs.

"Out," said Tony

"Out?" said McGee, "I thought he never left the building."

"He's not Howard Hughes you know. He goes to visit a buddy on Saturday mornings. He'll be back soon. Ah, here's Metro." Tony went to meet the officers who had just arrived and explained what had happened.

"McGee," said Gibbs, "we're going to the Navy Yard,"

"Boss," said McGee, "shouldn't we stay and help Tony? There's a mess to clear up here."

"There's another mess which needs clearing up. Come on."

Tony looked surprised when he saw Gibbs and McGee speed past in the car but he assumed they'd got a call.

NCISNCIS

McGee followed Gibbs into the squad room,

"Boss, what's all this about?"

"Call Abby in, we'll need her too."

"Boss, what should I tell her?"

"I need you to hack into the FBI computer and find out everything about Gregory Archibald."

"Why?"

"Because he's up to no good. He's been avoiding Ducky and me and generally laying low."

"I don't think that's actually a crime, Boss".

"The only person he seems to want to talk to is Abby ... about poison. And then, by coincidence, Tony goes down with food poisoning," continued Gibbs.

"But Tony said everyone in his building had been ill," protested McGee.

"And Fornell went all squirrelly when he saw him. Pretty sure he recognised him from a witness relocation program".

"You think Tony's in danger?" gasped Tim, already switching his computer on.

"There's something not right," said Gibbs, "and that car ramming just proves it. Have you ever known Archie not to be there but suddenly, when there's an accident he's not around!"

Abby arrived half an hour later with Ziva in tow: they had been having coffee and chocolate muffins in their favourite bakery when Abby got the call from McGee.

"I can't believe Archie would hurt Tony," wailed Abby, "he seems so sweet."

"Appearances can be deceptive, Abby," said Ziva sensibly.

"Gibbs thinks he might have poisoned Tony," said Tim.

"What?! Oh, Gibbs, do you think that's why he seemed so interested in my poisoning cases?" said a stricken Abby.

Gibbs nodded grimly.

"But, Gibbs, you'd have to be a really good scientist to use those poisons, they're really tricky and I don't think Archie is a good scientist – he didn't seem to understand much of what I was saying."

"Well, he would not want to give you the impression that he was going to poison Tony, would he?" said Ziva.

Abby wrung her hands in distress.

"Although poisoning someone seems a rather subtle approach. It does not seem to go with someone trying to smash a door down," mused Ziva.

"Things aren't always logical," said Gibbs.

"That is true, Gibbs," said Ziva, "er ... may I ask how we are justifying our involvement? Tony is, after all, no longer a federal agent. Do we have any jurisdiction?"

"That's a good point, Boss," said McGee, "not that I don't want to be doing this hacking, you understand".

"Archibald, or whatever his real name is, used to be in the Marine Corps. Or so he says. I reckon that gives us _jurisdiction_ don't you, Agent McGee?" said Gibbs.

The team all nodded and got to their various tasks. They barely spoke for about two hours but then McGee broke the silence.

"I found him. You were right, Boss, he is in the witness relocation program".

"I knew it," said Gibbs triumphantly, "what you got, Tim?"

"Real name is Greg Arbuthnot. Born 1947 to Sylvia and George Arbuthnot. Sylvia was from Scotland originally – guess that part of his story was true. Spent five years in the Marine Corps, so that was real too. Left the corps and went to work in Hollywood as a cameraman. Married in 1970 to Janie Thompson, twin boys born in 1972. Left Hollywood and went to work as a film projectionist for a chain of theatres, got promoted to be a manager and then an area manager. He was doing well ..."

Ziva interrupted him, she pointed to the TV,

"Look, that is Tony's theatre, is it not?"

The team looked where she was pointing. They could see several police cars surrounding Seymour Boulevard. A caption below read, "Potential hostage situation unfolding at Washington movie theatre."

Ziva, McGee and Gibbs grabbed their weapons and gear and headed out. McGee took his lap top as well and continued to tap into it as they ran. Gibbs called Fornell,

"Fornell, pick up, damn you. Archibald is holding Tony hostage. Get down there, NOW!"

 


	3. Chapter 3

They scrambled into the car. McGee jumped in the back so he could continue to read the information that was coming up. Ziva phoned Metro to get an update. Gibbs drove as he had never driven before. They were about five minutes out from Seymour Boulevard when McGee said,

"Boss, we got it wrong. Archie wasn't in witness relocation because he was a crook."

"What?" growled Gibbs.

"He was a witness. Seems that the cinema chain he worked for was a cover for some pretty nasty stuff – drugs, prostitution, money laundering, loan sharks. Archie, I mean Arbuthnot, found out what was happening and went to the police. The family threatened him."

"Family? Is this a Mafia case, McGee?" asked Ziva.

"Doesn't look like it. Just a local family that seems to have terrorised a lot of people. The police seemed to think there was a genuine threat so ..."

"So, what?" asked Gibbs.

"So, he was allowed to give evidence anonymously and the FBI faked his death. Boss, he had to walk away from his wife and children."

"How long ago was this?" asked Ziva softly.

"Thirty years," said McGee.

"We're here," said Gibbs as he parked the car near the police blockade.

"Boss, what do you think is going on?" asked McGee.

"Don't know. Look, there's Fornell. Guess he picked up at last. Tobias, what's happening?"

Fornell had hurried up when he saw the NCIS team arrive.

"Not sure, Jethro. I've just got here. Panic alarm got activated about twenty minutes ago. Metro alerted us and we came in."

"Panic alarm?" queried Ziva.

"Standard practice for witnesses in the program, Agent David," said Fornell.

"Where's the alarm based?" asked Gibbs.

"Arbuthnot has a portable one, glorified cell phone. This was a pretty low key operation, Jethro. It's been thirty years since he testified, we didn't think there was anyone around who still cared."

"D'you think that's what happened here?" asked Gibbs, perhaps a little reluctant to let go of his picture of Archie as the bad guy in all this.

"Looks like it. That car-ramming this morning. Metro picked up the car on a traffic camera and identified the driver. It was the son of the man that Archie sent to jail all those years ago. Turns out his father died a couple of months ago and he's been on a bit of a bender ever since. Looks like everyone else in the family had laid it to rest but Billy, Billy Smith couldn't and then he saw a copy of the Washington Bugle with Tony and Archie's smiling faces on the front cover ... and well... Metro went round to his house but his Mom said he'd been back, grabbed his guns and went out again. I think we know where he turned up."

"Do we know who is inside?" asked Ziva.

"Don't know. Let's go and find out." Fornell led them towards the police and FBI cordon. They saw Radhika sitting in the back of an ambulance. She stood up when she saw them approaching,

"Tony and Archie are inside. Tony realised that something was wrong. I saw a man about to come in, waving something around and suddenly Tony shoved me into the kitchen and told me to get out. I climbed out of a window and ran round. I heard a gunshot – I think the chandelier came down, there was such a crash. I was going to call the police but before I could do that, all these cars arrived".

"Where did Tony and Archie go?" asked Gibbs.

"I don't know. I think Archie was in the projection room but I can't be sure. Tony ran upstairs," she said shakily.

"The projection room would probably be the most secure place," said Ziva, "the most easily defended."

"Until someone gets in," pointed out Gibbs, "and then there's nowhere to run."

"Has Tony got a gun?" asked McGee.

"Not here. He's got a permit for one in his apartment but he won't have it with him," replied Gibbs.

"Then he's helpless," said McGee.

"Not helpless," said Gibbs grimly, "not if I know Tony."

NCISNCIS

Tony didn't know what it was that had made him look out of the battered door, but he was grateful. He saw a stranger striding up to the lobby swinging some sort of shotgun or rifle. He didn't hang around to get more details, he shoved Radhika into the kitchen with instructions to get out and then ran up the stairs to find Archie.

Archie was standing outside the projection room. Tony raced up to him, grabbed him by the arm and shouted,

"Arch, quick, get in the projection room!"

To Archie's bewilderment, Tony pulled him forward, slammed the door behind him as hard as possible and then dragged him along the corridor.

"What the hell's going on?" asked Archie.

Tony didn't answer but pushed Archie into a large closet just around the corner and followed him in.

"Sshhh, we've got a visitor with what looks like some pretty impressive firepower, let him think we've gone into the projection room."

"Why  _haven't_  we gone in there? Wouldn't it be safer?" hissed Archie.

"Hopefully this gives us the element of surprise. I'm hoping you've got some sort of alarm on you. I haven't found a panic button anywhere so I'm guessing they gave you a portable one."

"How did you know?" asked Archie.

"Shall we save this conversation till later?" suggested Tony, "if you've got the alarm, sound it now."

Archie reached into his pocket and pulled out something that looked like a cell phone. He tapped a code in. "Or we could just phone someone," he whispered.

"Good thought," said Tony, he drew his cell out of his pocket and took the battery out. "Where's your phone?"

"In the projection room," said Archie, "why did you do that?"

"Because someone is going to phone me soon and I don't want our friend out there to hear it".

They listened and could hear the intruder shouting outside the door down the corridor,

"Come out, you coward. Bastard!"

There was a shot that sounded as if it had been aimed at the ceiling, they could hear plaster falling down.

"Too much to hope that he'll bring the roof down on himself," muttered Tony.

"Why doesn't he try the door?" asked Archie,

"I'm hoping because he's an idiot and a coward. He thinks we're in there and we'll jump him if he tries to get in. Stay here, I'm going to see if I can see what he's doing," and before Archie could protest, Tony had gone.

He was back within seconds with a smile on his face.

"He's put a chair under the door handle, so he thinks he's locked us in. Sshhh!" They heard the gunman walk past their hiding place and they froze as he came back and seemed to stop by the door. After a few seconds they breathed again as he walked back towards the stairs again. Tony's quick hearing picked out as he went down the steps.

"What's the plan, Tony?" asked Archie,

"Plan? Well, we could sit here and wait to be rescued. My money's on Metro, the FBI and Gibbs being parked outside now and I don't think they've come for the afternoon screening of the 'Princess Bride'. Damn, what's he doing?" Tony broke off as he heard more smashing and crashing from downstairs.

"He's breaking the place up, If your friends don't hurry up, there won't be any of this place left," said Archie.

"What are you suggesting, Arch?" said Tony.

"Well, I'm a former marine and from what I hear, you're a former federal agent with a pretty inventive streak – you'll think of something.  Gotta tell you, I'm getting pretty fed up with this closet".

"OK, stay here, and let me have a look what's going on." Again, Tony slipped out, he was gone a bit longer this time. Arch was about to go look for him, when he was back, his face grim.

"He's on a wrecking spree down there and I think he's getting ready for a bonfire. Ripped up curtains and covers and he's bringing them up to the projection room. Reckon he thinks he's going to cook us. I don't think we can get down stairs without him seeing us. Our best chance is to grab him when he comes up with his next load. Are you up for that?"

Archie just smiled, "Semper Fi!"

There were a couple of cardboard displays near the top of the stairs and they decided to hide behind those. It wasn't a good hiding place but they reckoned that their visitor thought they were safely locked away so wouldn't be looking for them. They crept out as they heard him going downstairs again and took their positions. Tony wasn't sure if this wasn't one of the stupidest things he had ever done but, like Archie, he felt angry at the damage being done and was determined not to wait to be rescued. He hoped that as soon as they had disarmed the intruder, a horde of armed police would flood in and take over. He had half hoped that the man would have left his gun by the door but he hadn't, he was taking it with him wherever he went.

Archie and Tony heard him pant as he climbed the stairs.

"Get ready for barbecue time, Arbuthnot," he puffed, "afraid I haven't got any burgers. You'll have to do instead."

He threw a pile of posters in front of the door and, as he did so, Tony and Arch made their move. Tony aimed a blow at the arm which held the gun but Smith turned out to be tougher than he looked and connected a vicious punch to Tony's head. Tony reeled back and Archie moved from behind to try to put the intruder in a head lock. For a moment or two it looked as if he had succeeded but it was a long time since Archie had fought anyone and he was soon struggling. Smith broke free and pushed Archie to the ground. He had kept hold of his gun and now aimed it at the prostrate Archie. He smiled in appreciation but waited a second too long. Tony tackled him to the ground and they fought for the weapon.

As they struggled, Tony wondered if they would have been better off staying in the closet but he was still fuelled by anger at the destruction this man had unleashed and he kept on fighting. Finally he managed to get enough leverage on the gun to push it away. He aimed a punch at Smith and then pulled him to his feet,

"Arch, get something to tie his hands up," he panted.

The sight of Archie moving towards him seemed to enrage Smith once more who, with a manic burst of energy, pushed back and managed to shove Tony into a wall. Tony's head hit the wall with a sickening thunk and he slid down to the floor. Archie instinctively ran towards Tony to help, Smith picked up the gun again, shook his head and smiled,

"Well now, I'm gonna have me some target practice."

He raised the weapon and stepped back to get a better aim.

Tony would have known what movie it came from.

Smith had forgotten that he was at the top of the stairs, he stepped back into nothing and tumbled down, the gun going off as he fell.

NCISNCIS

Outside in the car park, the assembled police and federal agents had been about to storm the building. The sound of the gunshot kicked them into action and they rushed in, the NCIS team managing to be in first.

A scene of devastation greeted them. The chandelier had indeed been smashed, Posters had been ripped down, mirrors cracked, furniture overturned, blinds torn down and, at the foot of the stairs, lay the unconscious form of Billy Smith who would not be causing any more trouble for a while.

Gibbs stepped over his body and ran up the stairs and stopped in horror at the top. Archie was sitting propped against the bonfire Smith had piled up; he was holding Tony in his arms and tears were streaming down his face.

 


	4. Chapter 4

One of the advantages of not being officially responsible for the 'incident' was that Tim and Ziva did not need to hang around to process the scene but could follow the ambulance that whisked Gibbs, Tony and Archie off to hospital. It was probably as well for Billy Smith that Gibbs left so quickly.

Now Gibbs was sitting in the hospital nursing a mug of coffee and wishing he could forget what he had seen when he had rushed up the stairs in the movie theatre.

Archie had been sitting on the ground with Tony pulled across his lap. What had shocked Gibbs was that tears were streaming down Archie's face; he could see a trickle of blood seeping down Tony's face and for a few moments he feared the worst. Part of him wanted to look away, part of him wanted to stand there and delay hearing the bad news but another part of him – the marine/agent part – drove him forward immediately to see what he could do.

"Arch?" he said, instinctively using Tony's nickname for the older man, "Arch?"

Archie looked up at him, despair in his eyes,

"He's dead, Agent Gibbs. I can't feel a pulse."

Forcing himself to remain calm, Gibbs reached out a hand to touch Tony's neck. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt a strong beat.

"It's OK, Arch, he's still with us. I can feel his pulse."

"Are you sure?" said Archie.

"Yes, here ..." Gibbs took Archie's hand and put it against Tony's neck, "there, feel that?" Archie nodded. "It's OK," said Gibbs gently, "sometimes it's difficult to feel it when you're shaking."

"Old marine like me shouldn't be shaking," said Archie a little tremulously,

"I think you're allowed," said Gibbs drily. He turned round and saw McGee and Fornell standing there. "We need a medic here, Tim".

"On it, Boss," said McGee running back down the stairs to get the help.

Archie continued to hold on to the unconscious Tony. The paramedics tactfully let him stay like that while they did a preliminary examination,

"What's his name?" one asked.

"DiNozzo ... Tony," said Gibbs.

"Tony ..., my name is Mark, I'm here to help you. Tony ... can you open your eyes for me? No, I'm not getting anything. Gordon, I think we're just going to scoop and go. Get ready, will you? Does anyone know if Tony has any allergies, anything we should know?"

"I can give you the medical history," said Gibbs, "I've had a lot of practice."

"Good," said Mark, "you come with us then and tell us as we go. And you, Sir," looking at Archie, "I think you'd better come too". Gordon came running up with the gurney.

"Sir, you need to let go of him now," said Mark firmly, "we're going to put him on the gurney and take him to hospital. You can come too."

Archie nodded, and let them take Tony away. Gibbs helped him up and continued to hold his arm as they walked downstairs. Archie shook his head in bewilderment as he saw the devastation Smith had wrought but said nothing; he climbed meekly into the ambulance and let Gibbs put a blanket round his shoulders.

Archie had been checked out at the hospital and found to be suffering from just some bruises and shock. He had refused to go home, however, but waited with the others for news of Tony. Ziva had phoned Ducky, Jimmy and Abby and they had also to come to wait for news. Shortly after they had arrived, a doctor came out to speak to them.

"I'm Dr Harding, I'm looking after Mr DiNozzo."

"How is he, Doc?" asked Gibbs.

"He's still unconscious, I'm afraid. He seems to have taken quite a blow to the head. We're taking him down for a CT scan to check for haemorrhages."

Abby grabbed Gibbs' hand in anxiety,

"Do you think he's bleeding? Tony's been hit on the head lots of times and he's always been all right. Although I suppose that's not a  _good_  thing is it, that he's been hit so often. I mean it's good that he's always got better, but not good that he's needed to ..."

"Abigail," interrupted Ducky, "let Dr Harding continue."

"There's not much else to say at the moment. There's no queue for the scan so he'll be going straight in. You're welcome to stay. I'll be back as soon as I've got some news".

Gibbs, Archie and the team sat back down again and resumed their waiting.

NCISNCIS

Two hours later they were still waiting; the area around them was littered with discarded sandwiches and half-drunk cups of tea and coffee. Every few minutes, as a distraction, someone would go and get refreshments but nobody could concentrate enough to finish anything. Occasionally, Jimmy would start to tidy things up but then lose heart and sit down again.

"What's taking so long," asked Gibbs impatiently.

"Now, Jethro," said Ducky soothingly, "these things take time. They have to look at the results and determine what is going on and, I fear, they have other patients."

Archie had said nothing since being checked out and asserting that he was not going home. He felt uncomfortable being with the close knit team who, he guessed, had lots of questions for him but he was determined to stay where he was. At last Dr Harding came back.

"I'm sorry for the long wait. I'm afraid we're very busy back there tonight".

"We understand, Doctor," said Ducky, "I'm a doctor myself and I well remember my first days as a junior houseman in the UK. I think that's the equivalent of a resident in the US. No matter. I well remember that we were so busy that sometimes I fell asleep standing up. It was a miracle so many of our patients survived. Not, of course, that I wish to imply that we were negligent but rather very hard pressed. I hope you are not having to be so busy yourselves ..."

"Duck," interrupted Gibbs with forced calm, "shall we let Dr Harding tell us what's going on with Tony?"

"Of course, Jethro, I do apologise. My reminiscences can wait for another day. Dr Harding, please continue."

"I'm pleased to say that the CT scan did not show any brain damage. That is good news".

"Indeed it is," said Ducky, "and the rest of your news?"

"Mr DiNozzo has not yet recovered consciousness ... but there are no rules around this and we just have to wait and see. He is being moved to a room upstairs and, if you wish, you can go and see him there. An orderly will be along shortly to take you there."

"Thank you, Doctor," said Gibbs. "All right, we'll all go up and see Tony. Tim and Ziva, then I want you to take Ducky, Abby and Archie home. No point us all staying here. You can come back in the morning".

NCISNCIS

As Gibbs sipped his coffee, he reflected that his orders had not been followed to the letter. They had all filed into Tony's room and then left, leaving Gibbs to keep his customary vigil. A few minutes later, Gibbs had looked up to see Archie standing at the door.

"I told you to go home", he said.

"You don't get to tell me what to do, Agent Gibbs," he replied, "Tony's my friend and I'm going to stay".

Gibbs thought about arguing but then he remembered Archie's distress earlier and decided to give in. He indicated a chair on the other side of Tony's bed.

"I'd tell you that there's no point in staying, that Tony won't know the difference but then I realise that you could say the same thing to me, and I'm staying. Must be a marine thing."

"Semper Fi," said Archie, with an attempt at a smile, "I get the impression you've had to do this before, Agent Gibbs."

"A few times," admitted Gibbs, "and call me Jethro ... or Gibbs."

"Jethro," nodded Archie.

"And should I call you Greg ... or Arbuthnot?"

"I've been Archie for a long time now, Jethro. More than half a lifetime. I've sort of got used to it."

"While we were waiting to enter the theatre, Agent Fornell told me that the FBI thinks there's no threat left to you. Billy Smith was probably the last one who cared and he won't be causing you any more trouble."

"Was that his name?" asked Archie, "I remember a little boy, William. Cute little thing, big innocent blue eyes. I used to buy him popcorn. He didn't look so cute, or innocent, this afternoon," he sighed, "I guess you've got some questions for me, Jethro?"

Gibbs nodded, "I don't understand, er ... Archie, why did you let Tony buy into the business if you were in witness protection?"

"Have you ever tried to stop Tony doing something he wanted to?"

"That's not the point. You could have said 'No'. Hell, you  _should_  have said 'No', his voice rising in anger.

"I wasn't the criminal in this, Jethro," said Archie hotly.

"Hey, can you two keep the noise down," came a slurred voice from the bed, "I think I've probably got a concussion and I seem to remember that loud noises aren't good for it".

"Tony, you're awake," said Archie happily.

"You should have been a detective," mumbled Tony.

Gibbs and Archie exchanged a smile at the lame joke. Gibbs pressed the bell to alert the medical staff that their patient was awake.

"What do you remember, Tony?" he asked.

Tony closed his eyes to concentrate. "Someone came after Arch ... we hid; somewhere, can't remember."

"Yeah, and you should both have stayed hidden instead of playing the hero. You both watch too many movies," said Gibbs. Further discussion was interrupted by the arrival of a nurse to do some checks.

"OK, Honey, my name is Suzanne and I'm on duty the rest of the night. I'm guessing you've got a headache and you're feeling a bit nauseous?"

"That's about right, hope you've got the barf bag standing by," quipped Tony.

"All right, Sugar. I'm going to get you something for that headache but you know the drill. I can't give you anything too strong and I'll be coming by every so often to wake you up."

"Looking forward to it already but I should warn you that I can't remember the name of the president on a  _normal_  day!"

"We'll think of something, Darlin'; I'm sure one of your friends here will be able to tell if you're behaving normally."

"I wouldn't bank on it," said Gibbs, "'normal' isn't a word that many people use to describe Tony."

"Hey, wounded person here, Boss. No need to make it worse".

"I'm just going to get you those pills, Sweetness. You just rest there quietly".

Tony waited till she had left the room and then said, "I think I feel sick ..."

Gibbs and Archie both looked round for something for him to throw up into, and then saw him grinning '... all that sugar!" They both relaxed a little after that although they could see that he was in pain and probably  _was_  feeling nauseous. Tony took the pills that Suzanne brought him and then said, "OK, bring me up to date on what happened".

"What do you remember, Tony?" asked Gibbs.

"Not much. Did the door get bashed in or was that a dream?"

Gibbs and Archie each supplied their own side of the story and Tony tried not to nod his head as he listened. "It must have been kinda funny when Smith fell down the stairs but we were lucky. Arch, I think you and I had better stick to the movie business. I don't think we're cut to be a crime fighting duo."

"If you still want to be in it with me," said Archie, "and I'm not sure how much of it is left."

"We're partners," said Tony, "and we'll think about Tara tomorrow," and he closed his eyes and seemed to drift off to sleep.

"Tara?" queried Gibbs.

"Movie reference," explained Archie, "'Gone with the Wind'"

Gibbs nodded and wondered whether the world could cope with two movie buffs like Tony and Archie coming together. He settled back in his chair, Archie dozed off and the rest of the night passed quietly except for the two hourly concussion checks.

NCISNCIS

With the arrival of morning came also Ducky, Jimmy, Abby, the rest of Gibbs' team and Radhika. Gibbs was especially pleased to see Radhika who had brought coffee and some of the brew which had seemed to settle Tony's stomach before.

"Toneee," squealed Abby happily when she saw Tony was awake. She rushed towards his bed with arms outstretched but stopped when she saw him wince at the noise. She moved forward more slowly and placed a feather light kiss on his cheek,

"Head still hurts, eh?" she said sympathetically.

"Yep, those beatniks with their bongos are back. And I've got a free carousel going on in my head too".

"I fear that may linger for a while, my boy," said Ducky, "that's a nasty concussion you've got. I think you may need to stay in bed until that dizziness fades."

"No arguments here, Duckman," said Tony, "if I got up now I think I'd be face-planting the floor. And though the DiNozzo nose is large, it's perfectly formed and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Well, Honey-bunch", said Suzanne coming in at that moment, "I think that's an excellent idea. Now I'm going to give you a lovely bed-bath to freshen you up. I think your friends could go and get some breakfast while we do that, don't you?" And although she said this in the gentlest, sweetest tone possible, the others found themselves of the room as quickly as if she had pulled a shotgun on them.

"Could have done with her in the corps," mused Gibbs, "OK. Let's go get something to eat".

NCISNCIS

Tony did feel a lot better after Suzanne's ministrations but felt grateful that she was in her fifties so he was not obliged to flirt too seriously. He was lying quietly, experimenting with raising the bed head slightly and rejoicing that it didn't exacerbate the dizziness, when he heard raised voices coming down the corridor.

"I can't believe you would think that, Gibbs!" Archie was shouting.

"What else was I supposed to think?" came Gibbs' loud reply, "when you'd gone all quiet and broody on us."

"Oh, I should never have told you," wailed Abby.

"I don't understand why Anthony didn't consult me," said Ducky crossly.

"I suppose you'll be accusing  _me_  next," complained Radhika.

"Guys, we shouldn't be upsetting Tony," came Jimmy's attempt at a calming voice. Tony guessed that at least two people had turned glares on him because the next stuttering words came, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that ... but, but ... but, I'll be quiet now."

"Jimmy has a point," said Ziva, "we should wait until Tony is feeling better before discussing this."

"Too late, Ninja, I think the whole hospital knows about it now. Why do the two quietest people I know choose the day I have a concussion to have a shouting match?"

A chorus of whispered apologies wafted across the room.

"OK, you'd better tell me what's going on. But could you keep it down, guys – please?"

"Of course, Anthony. I was just expressing my regret that you had been ill and failed to consult me or some other medical person," said Ducky.

"And I was being  **furious** ", sorry," Archie lowered his voice, " _furious,_  that Agent Gibbs had thought that I'd poisoned you".

"And I was hoping that I wasn't going to be accused of putting something in your tea," said Radhika a little tearfully.

"Bit lost here," said Tony plaintively, "McGee can you translate, please?"

"The Boss thought that perhaps you'd been poisoned when you were ill the other day."

"OK – but how did you tie that in with Arch?" asked Tony.

"Because I'd apparently been pumping Abby for information about how to slip you some untraceable poison," said Archie bitterly.

"Why  _were_  you talking to Abby about poison?" enquired Tony.

Archie looked a little sheepish, "I didn't mean to. I think I mentioned a poisoning in a movie and she was off. I didn't understand one word in a hundred but she's real fascinating when she gets going."

"See," said Abby triumphantly as she punched Gibbs on the arm, "I  _knew_  he didn't understand what I was talking about. You owe me a CafPow and you owe Archie an apology".

Archie didn't know about Gibbs' rule about apologies so didn't quite understand why everyone else in the room turned to gaze at Gibbs to see what would happen next. Gibbs opened his mouth to speak,

"No, that's OK, Jethro. I understand how it happened. We'll just chalk it up to experience. I was just mad that any of you would think I'd want to hurt Tony. He's the best thing that's happened to me in years ..." Archie's voice broke and tears came to his eyes.

The others averted their eyes tactfully while Archie composed himself – except for Abby who hugged him, and surreptitiously wiped her own eyes on his shoulder.

"That's right, Arch," said Tony cheerfully, "it must have been so boring in the days before people broke your door down, ripped your place apart and tried to shoot you ..."

"Guess that's the DiNozzo effect," said Jimmy meditatively. Everyone laughed. Unfortunately the noise brought another nurse into Tony's room.

"I'm Bruce, just taken over from Suzanne ..."

"... hmmm, nurses often have to go off duty after giving me a bed bath, they're just overwhelmed by all that DiNozzo goodness," said Tony.

"Yeah, that's right, that's  _exactly_  what she said as handed over to me. What she  _didn't_  say was this number of visitors was allowed in here. Some of you are going to have to leave."

As several of them raised their voices to protest their right to stay, Ziva looked across at Tony and then touched Gibbs' arm to get his attention and nodded towards Tony whose eyes were slipping shut.

"Listen up everyone," said Gibbs, "let's give Tony some space. He looks like he wants to go back to sleep. We'll come back later. Off you go."

"Thanks guys, “said Tony wearily, "just give me a couple of hours and I'll be good to go."

"Visiting time for Mr DiNozzo will begin at 3.00pm," said Bruce firmly, "and not a minute before."

 


	5. Chapter 5

Tony was released from hospital the next day with a prescription of rest and quiet. A few days later he reflected that his otherwise intelligent friends seemed to have developed difficulties following directions as it seemed that he was never alone.

He assumed that Radhika felt she should do something to earn her pay: the movie theatre was closed because of the damage caused by Smith so she had nothing else to do. She visited a couple of times a day and always brought something for Tony to eat. Tony's appetite was slow to return and Radhika's onion bhajis and lamb samosas were the first things to tempt him and he began to develop a taste for her Indian cuisine.

Archie was another frequent visitor but, again, Tony reasoned he had nothing to do as the theatre was shut. He also suspected that Archie was enjoying a sense of freedom after decades of hiding, Archie was beginning to explore the city in which he had lived for so long and was constantly amazed. He was also thinking of starting to drive a car again – he had always stayed close to home and so hadn't needed to drive. Tony had mischievously suggested he asked Gibbs or Ziva for lessons but, when he saw that Archie was taking the idea seriously, substituted McGee as the more sensible choice. He and Archie often used to watch a DVD from Tony's extensive collection and he enjoyed having such a knowledgeable co-watcher. It was a little strange, he thought, that Archie always managed to select gentle, quiet movies which inexplicably led to Tony dozing off halfway through.

Tony was also not really surprised that Ducky came so often: he had probably agreed to do medical checks as a condition of Tony's release from hospital. It was lucky that his visits never coincided with anyone else's as this meant that Tony could be more honest about how he was feeling without anyone else around to judge that he was being a wimp for still having a headache and feeling a bit nauseous. Ducky was able to reassure him that such side-effects were not uncommon and that rest was the best prescription.

Tony guessed that they were quite busy in Autopsy so always had to leave someone as cover; that would explain why Ducky and Jimmy never came together. Tony realised quite early on that Ducky sent Jimmy there to gain experience and so he submitted patiently to Jimmy's questions and examinations. He knew also that Jimmy was on a tight budget with his medical studies so, even if he didn't really feel like eating something himself, he always made a point of getting Jimmy to share a meal with him.

McGee also came often. Tony could picture him judging when Gibbs was stuck in MTAC or a budget meeting and figuring out how long he could escape from the squad room for. Tony began to think it was quite useful for McGee that the former SFA was stuck at home. McGee seemed to be hitting a lot of problems in his new role which he needed to ask Tony about: when the requisitions needed to be done; how to get on the good side of Delores Bromstead; more details about how to manage Gibbs' diary creatively; how to avoid letting Ziva drive to crime scenes ... there was so much advice he needed from Tony.

Ziva was thinking of moving apartment and was looking at a couple of possibilities quite near to Tony's. This meant that she often dropped in while on her way to a viewing. Tony was a bit concerned that she seemed to be uncharacteristically indecisive about choosing a new abode but was always pleased to see her, especially as all the prospective apartments seemed to be close to artisan bakeries and she always made a point of going and buying some delicious treat to share with him.

Abby was going to a movie themed costume party and was trying to decide on her outfit. She kept on having ideas which she found herself allowing Tony to persuade her out of. He was puzzled that she had ever thought she could have been Shrek, Frankenstein or Thumbelina but he had enjoyed her visits anyway.

All in all, thought Tony on the third day since he had left hospital, it had been one of the best convalescences he had ever had. Little did he know, that at that moment, Gibbs was squinting at the wall-chart which McGee had put up in the squad room.

"Er, Boss," said McGee, "Abby has just reported in. She shared a sandwich and glass of milk with Tony while discussing being the Mother Superior from 'Sound of Music'. She left his apartment thirty minutes ago."

"Good," said Gibbs, filling in a square by Abby's name, "that means it's my turn and I've got half an hour before I need to be there".

"And what is the 'reason' for your visit, Gibbs?" asked Ziva.

"Not sure I need one but I took the precaution of ordering a new hand tool and getting it delivered to Tony's place. I  _have_  to go and collect it."

"Nice one, Boss," said McGee appreciatively.

"I may need to think of something similar," said Ziva thoughtfully, "I am running out of apartments to 'view' and chocolate muffins are beginning to pall."

NCISNCIS

Gibbs knocked on Tony's door in warning and then let himself in. He could smell the coffee brewing so guessed that he was expected.

"Hey, notBoss," said Tony, "a package arrived for you today. Not that I mind being your messenger service, but why have you stopped having things delivered to the Navy Yard?"

"Last wrench I had delivered got lost in the mailroom for ten days," said Gibbs ruthlessly sacrificing the reputation of the very efficient mail staff.

"Want something to eat? There's some of Radhika's fish stew; shortbread from Ducky (he's finally been given Arch's mom's recipe); a chocolate muffin from Ziva; fruit pie from Abby's nuns and, oh yes, Tim left his nutter butters behind".

In other circumstances Gibbs would have enquired about what Tony had eaten that day but when he'd checked the wall-chart it had shown Tony's approximate calorie, protein and carbohydrate intake for the day and he was satisfied.

"I'll take a piece of pie," he said and Tony decided to keep him company. They ate in silence for a while and then Gibbs said,

"We're not on duty this weekend. D'you want me to take over to the theatre so you can see what's going on?" Tony hadn't been out further than the corner of his street so far, and wasn't allowed to drive until the dizziness had completely gone. Gibbs guessed that Tony must be anxious to see the extent of the damage.

"I suppose so," came the surprisingly reluctant reply.

"I thought you'd want to go," said Gibbs tentatively.

"Arch has told me what it looks like," said Tony, "I trust what he says."

"Even so," said Gibbs, "you'll need to see what needs to be done for yourself".

"There's no hurry," said Tony, "besides, I think Arch wants to go off on a road trip."

"Road-trip?"

"Not surprising really. Man's been cooped up in Seymour Boulevard for years. He feels as if he's been let out of prison. He wants to spread his wings a bit".

"Is he going to make contact with his family?" asked Gibbs.

"If Abby had her way, he'd be flying down there straightaway and booking his happy ending."

"And what do you think?" asked Gibbs.

"I think that if this was a movie there would be a great happy ending ..."

"... but?"

"But this is real life and despite what some people think, I do know the difference. We've talked about it, me and Arch. You know, Boss, I've known people do some brave things in my life: soldiers risking their lives, men and women standing up for what they think is right, rescuing people ..."

"... and you've done a few brave things yourself," pointed out Gibbs.

Tony shrugged and continued, "What I mean is that I thought I knew about courage, but what Arch did went beyond anything I'd ever thought about. He walked away from his family, let them think he was dead and submitted himself to a life sentence of loneliness. His family were free to move on after they'd grieved but he could never bring himself to find someone else. And now,  _how_  can he go back? His wife and children think he's dead, how would they react to finding that he left them all those years ago? His wife might be married again. How do you unpick all that? But, he deserves to be happy, doesn't he? He might have grandchildren that he doesn't know about; they might need him."

"What does Archie think?" asked Gibbs.

"He longs to know what's happening but he thinks he should stay away. What do you think, Boss?" Tony looked at Gibbs and was startled to see a look of pain on his face. "Oh damn, Jethro, I'm sorry." In that moment, Tony realised how difficult this might be for Gibbs. Shannon and Kelly had been reported as killed when in witness protection. Was Gibbs now thinking that their deaths might also have been 'fixed' and that they were living somewhere under assumed names?

Gibbs shook his head, "It's all right, Tony. I saw them, I know they're dead," he paused and took another sip of his coffee, "but you're right when you say Archie is a hero. I don't know if I could have done what he did. And I don't know what the right answer is. Would his family understand why he left them?  _Could_ they understand? How old were his boys when he left?"

"About eight," replied Tony.

"How much would they remember about him?" mused Gibbs.

"I remember quite a lot about my mom," said Tony, "but I don't know what I'd do if she suddenly re-appeared in my life and said, 'Surprise, guess who's not dead?'"

"Is Archie going to find out where she's living, where the boys are?" asked Gibbs.

"I don't think so. He's torn: if he finds out she's happy and married and so on; well, I guess that's not so bad but painful for him. If he finds out she's lonely or ill, then what does he do? And anyway, after thirty years would she want to see him? Gibbs, I think we need to keep Abby out of this – you know she'll want to make a happy ending and she won't understand why it might not be a good idea. I think you're the one to have to tell her, she won't listen to anyone else."

Gibbs winced but said, "OK, but you need to tell  _me_  something."

"Deal," said Tony.

"Something Archie said to me didn't make sense."

"Yes?" said Tony warily.

"He said that you seemed to know that he had a panic alarm".

"Aahh," said Tony.

"Tony, did you know Archie was in witness protection?"

"I guessed," came the reply.

"How?"

"Do you remember ages ago I said I'd done a background check on Arch before signing on the dotted line?"

"Yes," said Gibbs, "and we laughed because I said I'd done one too. Or had McGee do one."

"Well, there was something hinky about it," said Tony.

"What was wrong with it?" asked Gibbs.

"It's difficult to say. It looked a bit too neat, a bit too uneventful for someone like Arch. I don't know, there was something not quite right".

"I think I'd better be having a word with McGee about how he runs background checks," said Gibbs a little grimly.

"Hey, don't blame the Probie," said Tony, "it was difficult to spot and I'm not sure even now that I could put my finger on anything in particular. And I had the advantage of knowing the man."

"We'll see," said Gibbs in a tone that didn't augur well for Tim the next day. "So what did you do about your hunch?"

"I asked Agent Slacks. Asked him if there was anyone in witness protection in Seymour Boulevard and, if there was, were they good guys or bad guys?"

"And he told you?" said Gibbs in a tone of disbelief.

"He feels guilty about keep accusing me of murder," said Tony unconvincingly.

"DiNozzo ...?" asked Gibbs threateningly.

"Well, I might have given him the impression that it was for a case. Hey, I was still a federal agent at the time with that high level security clearance."

Gibbs was about to tell him off but then realised that his own record in such matters was not exactly spotless and so changed his mind.

"Still, you were taking a risk, Tony."

"I didn't think it was much of one. Arch had been settled in that place for years without any disturbance, it seemed likely that it, whatever it was, was long forgotten. My mistake was letting Hope write that article in the 'Bugle' but I managed to hold her off from writing anything else. Still, all's well that ends well."

"Of course," said Gibbs drily, "it's all perfect. You nearly cracked your skull open and your movie theatre looks like a bomb hit it, but otherwise everything's fine."

"Well, it is, isn't it?" said Tony with a bright smile which Gibbs didn't quite buy into.

 


	6. Chapter 6

The next day McGee knocked a little nervously on Tony's door. At least he didn't have to concoct a reason for being there this time: Gibbs had told him about Archie's background check and had ordered him to visit Tony for 'advice' on how to run them in future. Tony opened the door,

"McGoo," he said happily, "come in. It's been at least an hour since I saw anyone."

McGee stared at Tony trying to see if he had worked out his former team's nursemaiding crusade. As always, he couldn't tell – he was met by the blandest of Tony's bland, innocent smiles.

"So, what brings you to Casa DiNozzo today, SFA #2?"

"Background checks," said Tim. Tony winced,

"Oops, sorry about that. I didn't mean to drop you in it." At McGee's sceptically raised eyebrow, he continued, "I'm not saying I wouldn't have done it in the past, but we don't need to compete for El Jefe's favour any more".

"Well, I've been sent for a master class in background snooping," said Tim, "so I've brought my laptop to show you what I found. You just need to remember that you're still sworn to secrecy about what you've seen."

"OK, grasshopper, let's see what the master can show you," and Tony rubbed his hands together in excitement. Tim groaned; he recognised that mischievous tone.

Two hours later, he reflected that Tony was  _very_  good at this. He had showed McGee other sources of information and how he cross referenced bits of data as corroboration or ways of highlighting discrepancies. Things which had looked perfectly sensible to Tim were shown to be slightly suspicious under what he called the 'Tony lens' of life experience, common sense and sheer breadth of general and odd knowledge.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Tim," said Tony, "If you were doing a background check on a computer geek you'd probably spot things I wouldn't. And anyway, I've been a cop a lot longer than you, I've developed a more cynical streak," he saw that Tim was not convinced so added, "it's more of an art than a science."

Tim sighed and thought this might just be another of those things which Tony just did better than other people, "I think I need you as a consultant," he said.

"You'll get there," said Tony, "I have every confidence in you."

"I'm not sure Gibbs has," said Tim.

"Don't beat yourself up, McVictim. Gibbs has more experience than either of us and he didn't spot anything wrong in what you showed him. We all have different experiences, gifts; that's why we work in teams."

"Guess so," said Tim a little doubtfully.

"And now, good team member, how about getting us some refreshments? Being nosy is thirsty work."

McGee agreed, wondering if the team's ministrations had led to Tony forgetting how to use his kitchen and get his own food and drink. Still, he reasoned he owed Tony something for the free lesson. When he came back, bearing hot chocolate and some of Ducky's shortbread, he found Tony sound asleep. Tim felt a bit guilty for having worked him so hard. He quietly shut down his lap top and gathered his papers together. The chocolate and shortbread smelled inviting so he decided to stay and eat his share. He sent a text to Ziva who was the next scheduled visitor to let her know that he was still with Tony so she could calculate when to arrive. Her text reply pinged loudly and jerked Tony awake.

"Rubber helicopters can't fly, they'd melt," he said loudly.

"What?" said McGee

"What?" replied Tony.

"Why are you talking about rubber helicopters?" probed McGee.

"I wasn't," denied Tony, "or perhaps I was. Wow, that was one really weird dream. Are you going?"

"Just going to finish my drink," said Tim, "do you need anything?"

"I'm glad you asked that," said Tony, "there is something you can do for me but you can't tell Abby."

"Okay," said Tim a bit worriedly.

"I want you to find out where Arch's family are and what they're doing."

"But I thought he'd decided not to find out?" said Tim.

"Yeah, he has, sort of," admitted Tony, "but I'm not sure that's the right decision."

"So you're going to contact his family for him?" asked Tim.

"God, no. I think there's a flaw in Arch's logic. I think he needs to know what they are doing so he can make a proper decision."

"I don't follow," said Tim.

"Look, Arch says that if his family is getting on well, his wife is married etc, then he won't make contact and I agree with that. But, and it's a big but, if they're not doing so well, then he might want to make contact and it might be the right thing to do. I think he's second guessing himself at the moment and that's not helping him. There's a saying, "The truth will set you free" and I think that might be true for Arch."

"OK," said Tim.

"And it makes sense," continued Tony, "at the very least if he finds out where they are, he can work out how to leave them his money and stuff in his will. We can work out a way for them to inherit."

"You've really been thinking about this," said Tim.

"It came to me when he was talking about going on a road-trip. We're talking about making contact with his family but he's got friends from that time as well. If he's not telling his family, he can't risk bumping into old friends either. Imagine he decides to meet up with an old army buddy, what happens if that buddy then tells his wife? Arch is prepared for all the pain of keeping his distance, I just want to be sure that he  _needs_  to be."

"OK, I'll get on it," said Tim, "but why can't I tell Abby?"

"You know Abby, she'll be all enthusiastic and start arranging reunions without thinking it through. Her interventions don't always work, you know. I'd like to have the information available if Arch decides he wants it but I want him to be able to make the decision in his own time and without pressure."

"You really care for the old guy, don't you?" said Tim.

"Like I was saying to Gibbs, I think he's probably the bravest person I know. We can understand split second decisions of bravery but to have carried what he did all those years and not be able to talk about it, well, that's pretty heavy stuff, Tim."

Tim nodded, "Yeah, I guess there are all types of bravery and some don't hit the headlines."

Tony slapped him on the shoulder,

"Sounds like something to tell your wee Webelos. Hey, when you get the stuff, put it in a sealed envelope will you? I don't want Arch to think I know something that he doesn't."

"You got it," said Tim and got up to go. At the door he remembered something else and turned, "we're not on duty this weekend. D'you want me to run you down to Seymour Boulevard?"

"Why does everyone want to get me down there?" complained Tony. He saw a look of surprise on McGee's face, "sorry, Tim. There's no rush to get there, is there? Like I say, Arch is thinking of going on a road-trip. Radhika might be going to India for a vacation so there's not going to be anyone around to get it up and running."

"OK," said Tim obligingly, "whatever you say. I'll let you know when I've got the information."

"Thanks, Tim," said Tony as he rested his head on the back of the couch and went to sleep.

NCISNCIS

"How did you get on, McGee?" asked Gibbs when he returned to the Navy Yard.

"I've had what Tony called a master class on background checks," said McGee.

"And what do you call it?" asked Ziva. Tim thought about it for a moment and then decided on honesty,

"I'd call it a master class as well. It was pretty impressive, Boss. All those years and I never quite realised what he was doing at this desk. Ziva, he was having a nap when I left so don't startle him when you go in."

Ziva smiled a little wickedly as if she would quite like to see Tony jump but she just nodded in agreement and left shortly afterwards. When he and Gibbs were alone, Tim broached a subject which had been bothering him,

"Er, Boss."

"Hmmm?"

"I offered to take Tony to the movie theatre this weekend. I mean  _his_  movie theatre, not any old movie theatre." That seemed to get Gibbs' attention,

"What did he say?"

"He got a bit cross about it, asked why everyone wanted him to go there. Boss, I thought he'd be itching to get there and start setting everything to rights".

The elevator dinged at that moment, signalling the arrival of Ducky and Jimmy.

"Ah, Jethro, Mr Palmer and I wanted to check the progress of the DiNozzo Daily Recovery plan so we can see when our services are next required".

"Help yourselves," said Gibbs, "Duck, can we run something by you?"

"Assuredly, Jethro, you know I am always delighted to give an opinion – I have so many!"

Gibbs grinned and continued, "McGee and I have both offered to take DiNozzo to Seymour Boulevard but he's turned us down flat. Can you think of any reason?"

"Well, he's trying to hide it but I don't think he's feeling quite up to par yet. He may not feel up to the visit", suggested Ducky.

Gibbs shook his head, "Don't think it's that. Have you ever known DiNozzo not do something just because he's feeling a bit off-colour?"

"It was a severe concussion, Jethro, rather more than simply feeling a bit unwell".

"You know what I mean, Duck. Doesn't ring true to me."

"Well, what excuse does Anthony give for refusing your offers?" asked Ducky.

"He said that Archie might not be around for a while and Radhika might be going to India for a vacation," replied McGee.

"Both very reasonable explanations," said Ducky.

"Perhaps he's afraid," said Jimmy and then faltered when three pairs of eyes swivelled in his direction.

"Afraid?" said Gibbs, "Tony, afraid?"

"Tony's had worse things happen than this," pointed out Tim, "and he never had any problems coming back to work."

"I believe Mr Palmer may be on to something here," said Ducky excitedly.

"I don't buy it, Duck," said Gibbs, "McGee's right. This is small beer to Tony."

"It was small beer when Anthony was a federal agent with violence happening to him as a result of his job. This was something which happened quite randomly to him as a civilian, if you will, and in a place which was very special to him. He was also defenceless in the face of extreme violence. This may well have been more traumatic for him then we, and he, realised".

"Do you think he has PTSD?" asked McGee.

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? No, no, no," said Ducky, "I don't believe he is showing any symptoms of that. He is sleeping well, engages emotionally with others and does not seem to be depressed".

"What do you suggest, Duck? Assuming you're right?" asked Gibbs.

"I doubt if there is any point in confronting him about it," said Ducky, "if my conjecture is right, he may be embarrassed about his feelings. It may also simply be that time will heal this; a return to physical health and energy may sweep aside any reluctance to engage with any residual feelings about the incident with Smith".

"So, do nothing?" said Gibbs, obviously not entirely on-board with a wait-and-see policy.

"Well, not exactly  _nothing_ ," said Ducky, "it would be good to continue our supportive strategy and be ready to assist if needed. I also think it would be a good idea for Anthony to have a change of scenery. He has been cooped up in his apartment for nearly a week, perhaps a nice drive out to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Gazing on some peaceful beauty spot might soothe his soul."

"Why, that's quite poetic, Dr Mallard," said an admiring Jimmy.

"Thank you, Mr Palmer. One of my ancestors, Byron Makepeace Mallard, was a great friend of Alfred, Lord Tennyson and, under his influence, filled many notebooks with epic poems about chivalry and derring-do."

"Really?" said an interested Jimmy.

"Yes, the collection is quite impressive. Unfortunately it is all complete drivel; calling it doggerel would be an insult to doggerel. I am just grateful that my cousin Jeremiah Colquhoun Mallard inherited the archive rather than me".

"So," said Gibbs interrupting this literary reminiscence, "a drive in the country will fix this?"

"Now, Jethro, why, after all these years of knowing me, do you insist on expecting simple answers?" complained Ducky, "I think a pleasant, gentle drive in beautiful surroundings may have a beneficial, healing effect."

"OK, a drive in the country it is," said Gibbs decisively.

"Er, Boss, do you think that's a good idea?" stammered Tim. Gibbs glared at him and Tim hastened to explain, "It's just that Ducky suggested a peaceful, gentle drive ... um, you don't usually ... er ..."

"I think what Timothy is trying to say, Jethro, is that, to quote Byron Makepeace Mallard, _you drive like a loon in June_."

"I said I'll take care of it," said Gibbs, "and I'll drive ... like McGee." And with that the others had to be content.

NCISNCIS

As good as his word, Gibbs arrived at Tony's apartment at 9.00am on Saturday morning and invited him out for a drive.

"I've just had some work done on the Challenger," he said, "thought I'd take it out for a good run."

"And we're not going to go by Seymour Boulevard?" said Tony warily.

"Nope, it's too nice a day to stay cooped up in the city. We'll go out towards the Blue Ridge Mountains and perhaps stop off to eat somewhere along the way."

"Sounds good," said Tony wistfully, "it'll be good to get out of here. I'll make some coffee to take with us. Don't want to risk you being un-caffeinated."

Gibbs smiled but thought he should add something, "I won't drive too fast, I know your head is still a bit tender."

Tony poked his head back out from the kitchen,

"Hey, I trust you. Anyway, I've always half thought that the mad driving is mostly for effect." He saw Gibbs glare and opened his mouth to backtrack but closed it again when Gibbs chuckled and gave a wry shrug.

NCISNCIS

Ducky and Tim would have been amazed to see Gibbs' impeccable driving. He kept to the speed limit, allowed drivers to pass in front of him and stopped to let little old ladies cross the road. He drove so smoothly that Tony dozed off sometimes. They didn't talk much; Gibbs was content to let the beauty of the surroundings have a chance to weave their magic.

After a few hours Gibbs stopped the car and they went for a short walk before sitting by a noted vantage point and enjoying the view. As the afternoon went on, they somewhat reluctantly went back to the car to return to the city. About an hour out from Washington, Gibbs pulled the car into the car park of a diner.

"Fancy something to eat? Old marine buddy of mine runs this place. Serves some pretty good chow."

"You know me, notBoss, always ready to eat," said Tony.

They found a table in a corner and both chose a steak from the menu, "Doubt it'll be as good as yours, Boss," said Tony, "unless it's a marine thing."

Gibbs just smiled and took a sip from his mug of coffee.

"Thanks, Jethro. It's been a great day, sort of soothing to get out of the city. Relaxing, that's the word."

Gibbs once again marvelled at Ducky's wisdom. He wondered whether to talk to Tony about how he felt but decided to follow Ducky's instructions and let Tony take the initiative.

"I've asked McGee to do some research into Arch's family," Tony said, "I think he needs to have all the information before he makes any decision."

"Makes sense," said Gibbs approvingly. "I'm guessing you told McGee not to let Abby know?"

"That's right. I love Abby but she's too much of a romantic. You know, notBoss, I think I'll do this driving out in the country more often. It's made me feel a new person".

"No problem, Tony, I enjoyed it. It's good to relax sometimes".

"Even if there's no wood or sanding involved?" teased Tony.

"Hey, I'm not narrow minded – I can relax in other ways."

"Well, I certainly feel better, sort of unwound, if you know what I mean," he looked up as the door opened, "er, Boss, you know that relaxed feeling we were talking about?"

"Hmmm," said Gibbs.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, Carey Lincoln has just walked in."

"Who's Carey Lincoln?" asked Gibbs.

"The suspect in that armed raid on the Navy wages convoy five years ago. The suspect we thought had got away to Mexico. I don't suppose you've got your weapon with you?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Damn," said Tony, "it's déjà-vu all over again."

 


	7. Chapter 7

Gibbs smiled as he realised that Tony had instinctively led them to a table which gave an excellent view of the diner while being in a discreet corner, and had then sat down on the side which gave him the best view of the door. He mourned momentarily the loss of such talent, but then turned his mind to the matter at hand.

"I don't remember much about the case," admitted Gibbs.

"It happened when you were sailing your boat down to Mexico," said Tony, "there wasn't much we could do. It seemed an opportunistic raid, not much planning, plenty of violence and the suspects went straight across the border".

"Will he recognise you?"

"No. We never laid eyes on him, let alone interview him. All we could do was put a warrant out for his arrest. There's probably some sort of watch on his passport but it's not likely he'd come through official channels".

"Do you recognise the guy he came in with?" asked Gibbs as he looked over the rim of his cup.

"No, but I think he's armed. What you want to do, Boss?"

"Let's get some help here. I'll go out back and phone McGee. You stay here and keep a look out. Phone me if you think they're leaving. We may need to follow them."

Tony watched the pair as they stood at the counter, apparently choosing something from the menu. It seemed to Tony, however, that they were more interested in trying to see how much money was in the till. It wasn't very likely that there was much cash around but it might look like some easy pickings. The diner wasn't very busy and just had a few mostly elderly customers enjoying a leisurely meal. The hairs on the back of Tony's neck began to rise as he got a worse and worse feeling about what was going to go down. He jumped slightly as Gibbs slid back into the booth.

"McGee has alerted the state police and they're on their way," he said softly, "told them to come in quietly. Don't want to spook anyone here."

Tony told him his fears about what was about to go down.

"Might be wrong, Boss. Perhaps they're just taking a long time choosing."

"You said the Navy raid was pretty much unplanned, is that right?" asked Gibbs.

Tony nodded, "That's what it looked like. No finesse, just brute force – and a bit of enjoyment in using their weapons."

"OK," said Gibbs, "so if we put a bit of a wrench in their plans, they might give up and just walk away?"

"Good plan, Jethro. How about I go and have a very long conversation with that waitress?" And before Gibbs could say anything, Tony had walked up to the waitress at the till,

"Melody," he said, peering at her name badge, "Hi. My friend and I have just ordered two medium rare steaks but I wonder if you could tell me something about the cows they came from?"

"What d'you want to know, Sir," asked Melody who found herself a little relieved to have someone else near her while the other two customers were choosing what to have.

"Well, are they organic? Free-range? Have they travelled far? I like to know how many food miles my meals have totted up."

"I don't know, Sir. I'm pretty sure they're reared local and I don't think they're kept indoors all the time."

"Perhaps you could talk to your boss about finding out about food miles and things. Lots of people are interested in stuff like that nowadays. I could recommend him a really good book."

Melody smiled kindly, "I'll be sure to let him know. I think your steaks will be on their way soon."

"Thank you, Melody. Now, do you think I could order another cup of coffee?"

"Of course, I'll bring it over to you."

"There's no need for you to do that. I can wait here – save you the walk. And if you don't mind, I'll watch as you make it. My friend back there is a tad fussy about how he takes his coffee so he likes me to make sure it's done right. That's not a problem is it?"

Poor Melody, brought up to believe that the customer was always right, politely let Tony observe how she poured Gibbs' coffee and put up with his monologue on the correct way to roast and grind the beans and then make the perfect brew. Carey Lincoln and his sidekick were less patient and soon saw that their moment of opportunity had passed since the annoying customer seemed in no hurry to move. They nodded to one another in frustration and walked out. Straight into the waiting arms of the state police.

When a breathless McGee and Ziva arrived a few minutes later, it was to find Tony wearing a smug smile and finishing his steak.

"Where is Gibbs?" asked Ziva.

"He's just talking to the police. I think he's going to get them to take Lincoln and his crony to the Navy Yard".

"And what about you, Tony? What are you doing?" asked McGee.

"Me? Nothing, I'm a civilian, I don't have to do anything."

"So, you just sat here and let Gibbs do all the work?" said McGee in slight disbelief. Tony opened his mouth to answer but didn't get a chance because Gibbs came back at that moment,

"I didn't do anything, DiNozzo did it all," he said.

"What did you do, Tony?" asked Ziva.

Again, Tony didn't get a chance to reply.

"He bored them to death," said Gibbs tucking into his cooling steak.

"Sounds about right," said Ziva.

NCISNCIS

Tony had to go to the Navy Yard a couple of days afterwards to make a statement about what had happened at the diner. He didn't sit at his old desk but tactfully sat at the empty desk that had been Tim's. Gibbs hadn't chosen a new agent yet so one desk was going spare. Word soon got round that Tony was in the building and people made excuses to come visit. When Gibbs came back from a coffee run he was startled to find the squad room crowded with people and very little work being done.

"DiNozzo, conference room!" he bellowed. Everyone laughed when Tony instinctively jumped up and started walking to the elevator. "Not there," growled Gibbs, "with me," and he led Tony to one of the actual conference rooms on the next floor. The statement was a mere formality and didn't take long. As they left, Tony said,

"Any ideas about the new agent?"

"Not really," said Gibbs, "there's no hurry."

"Dorneget might be good," said Tony, "he's a little green ..."

"A  _little_?" said Gibbs.

"Alright, a lot. In fact he's a lot like McGee was when he started but he's got a good heart."

"Humph," said Gibbs, which might have meant anything but which probably meant that the Gibbs who didn't really like change, was avoiding making a decision, "it's early days."

"Early days?" said Tony, "I've been gone nearly three months."

"But it doesn't feel as if you've gone, we see you all the time," said Abby happily as they reached the squad room, and she reached out to hug him.

"Ah, Tony," said Ziva, "McGee was trying to work out when our shooting range evaluations are due, but as you are here, you will be able to tell him."

For a moment, Tony wondered if this was a set up – having to come in to make a statement, all this people just happening to come by, Gibbs still having a vacancy on the team, Tim needing his help. He looked around and saw a twisted smile on Tim's face and immediately acquitted Tim of having any part in a possible set up.

"Ok," he said, "I've got to go. I'll see you chickadees later".

"Oh, but Tony," mourned Abby, "I wanted to introduce you to my new micro scanner'.

"Another time," said Tony. He gave a courtly bow and was gone. The good mood of the room evaporated and people went back to their work.

NCISNCIS

Archie turned up at Tony's apartment the next day.

"Come on," he said, "it's time to go and look at Tara." Tony looked a bit puzzled, so Archie explained, "When you were in the hospital, just before you dozed off you said _we'll think about Tara tomorrow_. Well, it's well past tomorrow."

"You do know that I had a traumatic experience there," said Tony plaintively, "I may be emotionally scarred forever."

"Hey, you were unconscious for some of it and you're a professional," retorted Archie.

" _Was_ ," said Tony, "I'm notCop now, remember."

"Whatever," said Archie, "but we need to go and see what we dealing with." He saw Tony still hesitating and continued, "You really don't want to go, do you?"

"No, not really. I don't think I'm frightened – well, not in a physical sense. I mean I don't think I'm going to be attacked there or anything. I'm not going to be jumping at shadows or sudden noises. It's, well, it'll sound stupid."

"Go on," said Archie, "I won't laugh. Well, I'll try not to and if I do, I promise I will be being sympathetic inside."

"An honest man," said Tony. "OK, those first few weeks were like a dream. Cleaning the place up, opening the coffee shop, Radhika being such a star, all those ideas we had and everything went well. And then, and then, well, Billy Smith came and smashed it all up. And part of me doesn't want to  _see_  it all torn apart. I'm worried that the heart of the thing has been ripped out and we won't be able to bring it back to life."

"Hmmm," said Archie, "but we don't  _have_  to put it back as it was. Perhaps it's time for a complete re-think. Ultra-modern rather than retro. Part of the reason we went for restoration was that it was cheaper than remodelling."

"Don't tell Abby," said Tony, "she'll want us to go for Gothic twee-horror or mortuary-chic." He looked at Archie's stubborn face and gave in, "Oh, OK, Arch, let's go."

A depressing scene met them at Seymour Boulevard. Shattered windows were boarded up as was the twisted door. Inside, broken glass from the windows and chandeliers littered the floor. The posters which Tony had loved so much from his first visit had been torn out of their frames and trampled on. In the coffee shop, the cups and mugs seemed to have been hurled against the mirrored wall. Tables and chairs had been smashed. Tony and Archie went silently from room to room marvelling that one person had been able to do so much damage.

"I don't know if I feel mad or sad," said Tony at last. "You know how people always say 'perhaps things won't be as bad as you think'? Well, they're wrong."

"I guess it's mostly superficial," said Archie, "just sweeping everything up would make it look better. Bare, but better."

"We'd better get the insurance company in," sighed Tony, "and get some quotes on how much it'll cost to clear it up."

"Have you made a decision then?" asked Archie.

"No," said Tony, "but I think we need to know what we're dealing with before we decide what to do. And that brings me to something I wanted to talk to you about. Let's get out of here and find somewhere to have a coffee."

They secured the building as well as they could and went to the diner down the road.

"You're not going to find an escaped criminal in here, are you?" asked Archie only half joking.

"If I do, we're leaving right away," said Tony.

When they were settled with coffee and donuts, Archie said, "OK, Tony, what's this about?"

Tony shuffled a bit uncomfortably and then began,

"You know that I think what you did testifying all those years ago was pretty amazing and that I understood when you decided not to find out what had happened to your family."

"Tony, I haven't changed my mind. I'm not going to turn their lives upside-down."

"Just hear me out," replied Tony. "If you knew that Janie was happily re-married and had more children. How would that make you feel?"

"I wouldn't go and mess that up for her."

"I know that. But if you knew she was happy, how would you feel?"

Archie thought for a while, "I guess I'd be sort of content. I'm not saying I wouldn't be sad but it would settle something. Go on."

"And if you found out that she was lonely or sad or ill; that she might need you. What would you do then?"

Archie didn't to think about that one, "I'd go to her. See what I could do."

"Then doesn't it make sense, Arch, to find out what's really going on? I don't think you lose. Chances are you'll still be sad but at least you'll know."

"Now who's the honest man?" smiled Arch. "All right, assuming I agree with you, I don't suppose you know how I could go about getting all this information?"

Tony grinned and took an envelope out of the inside pocket of his jacket. He put it on the table between them. "I asked Tim, in confidence, to do some research. I don't know what he found, I didn't want to know and he won't tell anyone."

Archie reached out a trembling hand and picked up the envelope, "Thank you. I'll think about it and I might open it later," he swallowed and said with an attempt at a smile, "at least I'd know what type of road trip to go on".

NCISNCIS

Archie went to visit Gibbs a couple of nights later. He hadn't quite believed the stories of Gibbs' basement and found himself trying to work out where the revolving walls were. Gibbs was used to people being distracted and let him wonder for a while before pouring him a glass of bourbon and asking,

"What can I do for you, Archie?"

"Tony persuaded me to find out about my family."

"He can be pretty persuasive when he wants to be," smiled Gibbs.

"Janie, my wife, got married again. She didn't have any more children," said Archie haltingly, "she went back to school and got a degree in fine arts. She taught painting until she retired. She and her new husband had their silver wedding anniversary last year." He took a gulp of his bourbon and went on, "my boys, Angus and Ross: Angus went into the army. He's an officer, doing well, married with a baby on the way. Ross seems to have drifted a bit but he's just gone back to school and he's studying to be a dentist would you believe? My son, a dentist!"

"You must be proud," said Gibbs.

"Yes, I am," said Archie, "real proud. And it's all mixed up, Jethro. Because I'm so proud, and I'm so sad that I'll never be able to tell them so. That I'll never hold my grandchildren in my arms or dance at their weddings. I'll never be able to tell Janie that I love her." He closed his eyes for a moment and then shook himself, "probably just as well I can't go the weddings, I'm a terrible dancer." He grinned at his awful joke and Gibbs grimaced back.

"But I think Tony was right. The truth hurts but it's set me free in a way. I know now what I can do and what I can't".

"And what can you do?" asked Gibbs

"I can go on the trip of a lifetime and see all the places I used to dream of. I used to have a plan to go and visit the places where my favourite movies were filmed. I can do that now. I know it's a cliché but one door has closed but others have opened."

"And what about the movie theatre?" asked Gibbs.

"We don't know. There are options but we're going to put it on hold for a while. Ben, the lovely Radhika's husband, is a builder. Once we know what the insurance company is going to pay out, we're going to get him to fix what has to be fixed and clear it all up. He and Radhika are going to India to see her family for a few months. When they get back he'll start work and by that time we might know what we want to do."

"And in the meantime?" said Gibbs.

"The road trip!"

"And what about Tony?" continued Gibbs.

"You'll need to ask him yourself," said Archie. "You know, I don't know what would have happened if he and Tim hadn't come in to interview me that day. I was a real curmudgeon to him but he was determined to like me."

"He has his moments," said Gibbs wryly.

"You know, I realised something when you filled out Tony's medical questionnaire at the hospital, Jethro."

"What was that?"

"Tony's almost exactly the same age as my sons. What do you think about coincidences?"

They clinked their glasses together, "Semper Fi".

NCISNCIS

Tony knocked on Tim's door that same evening.

"Oh, it's you," said Tim bitterly, "did Gibbs send you? Found something else for you to teach me how to do better?"

"No. Is it so unlikely that I'd come to see you of my own free will?"

"I guess not, come in, then. I doubt if you're going to leave without a fight anyway."

"That's better, Tim. And look – I bring be-sprinkled donuts."

After carefully picking the sprinkles off a donut, Tim seemed to recover his temper a bit.

"Hmmm, good donuts. Thanks, Tony. Sorry about before."

"No problemo, Timmyo. So, what's troubling the Timothy?"

"Nothing. It's nothing."

"Now, Tim. I'm sure a scout leader of your experience knows that lying is bad. How will you be able to stand up in front of your troop next week knowing that you lied to your best friend?"

"My best friend?" said Tim.

"Well, I hope so." Tim blushed and Tony continued, "So, spill, oh SFA!"

Tim didn't say anything so, after he had gazed at Tim knowingly for a while, Tony said, "Let me guess. You don't feel like you are Gibbs' Senior Field Agent?"

"Tony, you're always around. And when you're not around, you're still around!" Tony raised a quizzical eyebrow and Tim tried to talk more sense, "I mean it's great that you're still in Washington, that we see you all the time. But then Gibbs sends me to get lessons from you in background checks; you manage to capture a wanted criminal with Gibbs without even trying; Ziva thinks you know how to do everything better than me, the whole office lights up like a parade when you turn up; Gibbs won't give us a new team member because secretly he thinks you're coming back and ... and ... now you can even make Gibbs' coffee perfectly. I don't stand a chance!" he laughed a little hysterically, "Sorry ... but you asked."

"I'm sorry too, Tim, I didn't mean to make things difficult for you."

"I know, and it's not your fault. I think it's just the DiNozzo wattage is a bit too powerful for me."

"It's often been said, Tim, it's often been said. But you're doing a good job, you know that."

"Yeah, because Gibbs is so good at telling us things like that."

"Hey, you're preaching to the choir here, you know."

"Well, it's no fun having everyone keep reminding me that I'm not you and saying how much they miss you."

Tony opened his mouth to remind Tim of what it had been like in the early days of Gibbs' absence in Mexico but then closed it again. There was no point in making him feel worse. He settled instead for just saying blandly,

"You'll get used to it. People don't like change, especially El Jefe, but give it time and all they'll remember is how irritating I was."

McGee nodded vigorously in agreement at that.

Tony left shortly afterwards. He sighed as he walked to his car. He had half hoped that he was wrong about Tim but his visit had showed that his instincts had been right. He had always wondered how Archie had dealt with the grief of walking away from his family; well now, to a lesser degree, Tony was going to find out. He pulled out his cell and hit speed dial #7. When the call was answered, he said,

"Arch. How'd you like some company on that road trip of yours?"

 


	8. Chapter 8

Dear Donald

I promised to write if we came to Scotland – home of the Brave! We're spending a few days in Edinburgh. We're still looking for famous movie scenes so Tony insisted on going to find the grave of Greyfriars Bobby and we're going 'Trainspotting' tomorrow.

Away from movies, we're going to Elgin next week to see the place where my mom was born and lived until she got swept off her feet by my father. I have a feeling that Tony will want to stop off and take a look at Loch Ness on the way.

I'm glad Tony came with me although I have to admit he's not the most relaxing of companions! He always wants to be on the move – I never really thought of myself as being elderly but my old bones struggle to keep up with him at times. If you were here, you might be able to tell me if he seems more obsessed with keeping busy than normal. He hasn't said anything, but I think there was another reason for him coming with me than a kind wish to keep an old man company.

Tony is fascinated by men in kilts! I won't say anymore...

We are both well.

Tony says hi.

Gregory

NCISNCIS

Dear Jimmy

For some reason, Tony thought you would like to know that we have just visited Le Mans in France, home of the 24 hour car race. He said something about it sometimes taking you and Dr Mallard that long to reach a crime scene but that even you wouldn't be able to get lost here!

I expect you know that I've only just started driving again. Tony seemed to think it was a good idea for me to practise by having a go on the Le Mans track. That didn't last long ... but Tony was happy to take over. I think his Steve McQueen impressions were getting better by the end of the day!

Tony says hi.

Archie

My dear Ziva

We are visiting Switzerland at the moment. Tony says that you have been to most countries in the world but Switzerland is probably one of your favourites as it is the home of the Swiss Army Knife – apparently you are fond of knives? I can bring you one back if you like.

We're going to visit some of the places where the Bond movie, 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' was filmed. I think Tony secretly hopes he'll be able to ski where James Bond skied to escape Blofeld. He's determined, however, that we won't go to Austria so we can't bring you back a souvenir of 'The Sound of Music'!

Archie

NCISNCIS

Dear Tim

It's been a while since the last letter but we've travelled a long way. You'll see the stamp on the envelope is for New Zealand - Tony says we've come to Elf Lord land! (In case you don't remember, 'Lord of the Rings' was filmed here). We've just come back from a visit to 'Rivendell' – very beautiful.

Tony says that you'd find it a very soothing place but doesn't want to imply that he thinks you're stressed at the moment.

Archie.

NCISNCIS

Dearest Abby

Here we are on safari in Kenya. It's a stunning place. Tony thinks I look like George Adamson out of 'Born Free' and I tell  _him_  that he  _doesn't_ look like Tarzan.

Tony wanted me to tell you that we saw 'Bert's cousins' (?) today and that he's taken lots of photos for you. Maybe you'll explain that to me one day?

Archie

NCISNCIS

Dear Sister Rosita

You don't know me, but I'm here in Rio de Janeiro with Tony DiNozzo – a friend of Abby Scuito. We visited the statue of Christ the Redeemer this morning and he thought you'd like this postcard.

Gregory Archibald

NCISNCIS

Dear Jethro

You probably know that I've sent letters to everyone in your team over the last few months of our 'road trip' but I didn't quite know what to say to you. I was going to write to you from the Black Forest in Germany – Tony said it would be appropriate because of all the wood carving that goes on around there!

I've enjoyed the trip but I'm looking forward to coming home. Living out of a suitcase wears thin after a while and I think I've satisfied my wanderlust for a time. It has been wonderful to go where I want without any worries and you'll be pleased to know that we managed to avoid trouble: no crazed, knife-wielding criminals, no runaway trucks, no damsels in distress, no pickpockets ... not even a cough or cold between us! We've followed the sun and the warmth and it's done us both good. I gather Tony sometimes suffers in the Washington winter? Well, none of that this year.

You probably wonder why I didn't write to you. If you've seen the other letters you'll know that, though Tony didn't write them, he had a hand in them and sent some sort of message in them. Don't think that Tony has forgotten  _you_ , he talks a lot about you and the rest of the team. I get the feeling, however, that he felt he needed to give you all some space from him. I think he thought Tim especially was struggling with having him 'in the wings', so to speak.

I know none of you really wanted Tony to leave and perhaps you never thought he was really serious about the movie theatre. But he  _was_  serious and, in the end, he thought going away was the way to prove it to you; to make you get on with your lives without him. He struggled at the beginning – we went through Europe so fast my head was spinning. I reckon it was the classic thing of trying to keep too busy to think – that's why I didn't really want to write to you. I was worried about him but I didn't want you to have to worry as well.

I would never have pegged Tony as someone for the great outdoors but it seemed that going to New Zealand and then to Africa helped him. Wide open spaces and beautiful surroundings gave him a different perspective and he began – at last! – to unwind. I expect you know already but I hadn't realised, what an organised person he is. It's not surprising really: military school, college athlete, three police forces and then a federal agency. They're not exactly laissez-faire things, are they? No wonder when he came to Seymour Boulevard that he wanted to  _do_  everything,  _know_  everything and  _be_  everything. Always so immaculately dressed – I'm guessing Ducky would say something about a need to be in control. Up until now, everything has been about achievement and, because he often feels that he has let people down, he thinks he hasn't achieved much.

But, like I say, being on the other side of the world from all that, seems to have changed something in him. He was happy just to sit and stare, not to get up at the crack of dawn, not to make fifty plans before breakfast, not to fret at all the movies that have been released while we've been away!

So now, I'm writing this from Rio which we always planned would be our last stop before coming home. We've been here longer than expected, three months, but I'll see you soon.

Tony says hi.

Archie.

NCISNCIS

Gibbs smiled as he read Archie's letter again. His gut had been churning for a long time after Tony's unexpected departure on Archie's road trip but he hadn't been able to do anything about it. He suspected that Tony and Archie were following some sort of plan but it existed just in Tony's head and wasn't being shared. The occasional cards and letters from Archie were just enough to keep his anxiety at a manageable level and in recent weeks he had felt more settled about Tony. Now he realised that might have coincided with the visits to New Zealand and Africa.

He remembered Tony's brief visit the night before he left:

"Hey, notBoss, thought I'd drop by before we go off tomorrow."

"Finished with all your immunisations and stuff?" asked Gibbs.

"Yeah, we both feel like pincushions but I guess we're good to go anywhere in the world."

"How long you going to be gone for?" asked Gibbs.

"Don't know. At least three months, probably more. We'll see how it goes. We're going to follow our yellow brick road."

"That deserves a toast," said Gibbs, getting the bourbon out and pouring them each a glassful."

"Fair winds and following seas," said Gibbs as he raised his glass.

"Not sure there's going to be much sea travel," said Tony, clinking his glass against Gibbs', "but I appreciate the sentiment." They each took a sip, and then Tony said,

"Jethro, it's time to fill the empty chair. It's not fair on Tim and Ziva to make them do the work of three and Tim needs a vote of confidence, your vote of confidence. I'm not coming back and even if I did, I wouldn't expect to be your Senior Field Agent. I know what it feels like to be demoted and I wouldn't inflict that on Tim."

Gibbs had the grace to look a little embarrassed but said, "That’s not why I haven't picked anyone yet."

"Then why, Jethro? And if you  _do_  have a reason, have you shared it with Tim? Because I have to tell you, Jethro, that the functional mute thing isn't actually a good management technique. It sort of worked for me but then I haven't got high expectations. Tim needs a different approach. You didn't have to pick him to be your SFA but you did, and you need to follow through."

"Did you come here to scold me, DiNozzo?" said Gibbs irritably.

"You know I've always given you my opinion, Gibbs," said Tony, "and I won't stop doing that just because I don't work for you any longer. You need to man up, marine and lead your team".

Gibbs might have argued the toss with Tony but didn't want to part from him on bad terms so swallowed his instinctive response and settled for, "we'll see."

He had seen Tony the next day when the team gathered to see the travellers off. Tony had kissed Abby and Ziva and shaken hands with Ducky and Jimmy. Tim had approached him with a sheepish expression and an outstretched hand. Tony had ignored the hand and pulled him into an embrace, Gibbs had heard him say,

"Learn to say _no_ , Probie-no-more, otherwise your life with Gibbs will be like one long session with poison ivy."

"I'll try," said Tim, "thanks."

Tony had then hugged Gibbs, and whispered in his ear, "over to you."

He and Archie had then got into the cab which was taking them to the airport. The last thing the others heard as the car drove away was Tony's voice, "Play nicely, children."

Gibbs saw McGee's worried face and decided to take Tony's advice. He cleared his throat and said,

"Tim, need to talk to you about picking a new Probie. Any thoughts?"

"Um, yes, actually, I've been compiling some lists, getting background information. I've put it on a PowerPoint presentation ..."

"Of course you have, Tim. Of course you have," said Gibbs with an internal sigh about how things had changed, "we'll look at it when we get back to the Navy Yard."

Gibbs remembered that he had been pleasantly surprised by McGee's suggestions and they agreed that Dwayne Wilson would be a good addition to the team as they didn't really need a Probie. That pattern had continued, with a few hiccups, over the next months. Gibbs learned to cope with McGee's way of doing things and also learned not to say the words, "That’s not how DiNozzo did it". McGee learned that there was more to being Gibbs' SFA than was laid out in the NCIS handbook and began to relax a bit. Gibbs thought that they had really turned a corner when, after having solved a case with an inspirational insight, McGee said a little sheepishly,

"I saw it in a movie that Tony made me watch once." It might have been imagination on Gibbs' behalf but the laughter which followed felt as if a wound had been healed. It was the first time in months that McGee had been able to say Tony's name without difficulty.

And now, Gibbs held Archie's letter in his hands and knew that Tony would soon be back and they could all start working out what it would mean to have him as a friend rather than a co-worker. He stuffed the letter back in his pocket as he heard the announcement come over the public address system that the 14.00 flight from Rio de Janeiro was about to land.

It wasn't long before he saw the people who had been on the plane pass through customs and he went to stand by the gate. Archie came through first and Gibbs went to meet him.

"Welcome home, Archie. You're looking good."

"Thanks, Jethro. It's good to be back. Good of you to come to the airport."

"No problem, Archie."

"Let's go then, shall we?" said Archie.

"Shouldn't we wait for Tony?" laughed Gibbs, wondering if Archie was getting forgetful. Archie looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Er, Tony isn't with me."

"Is he coming later? Was the plane overbooked?" asked Gibbs.

"No, Tony's still in Rio. He decided to stay with rose."

 


	9. Chapter 9

"Rose?" asked Gibbs, "has DiNozzo hooked up with someone?"

"Not quite," said Archie, as they walked to the car.

"Tell me later," said Gibbs. "Or rather tell  _us_  later. Abby and the others are my house organising a surprise party for you and Tony. I'm afraid you've got some explaining to do."

"I never said Tony was coming back with me," pointed out Archie.

"My bad," said Gibbs, "I assumed."

"I've just spent eight months learning about your rules, Jethro. Don't you have a rule against that?"

"Like I said, my bad." He took his cell out and called Tim, "McGee, we're on our way back. Tony isn't here. Archie'll explain. Yes, you do that." Gibbs turned to Archie and said, "they might need to do some adjustments to the welcome – thought you might not want everyone to jump out on you in the dark."

"Appreciate that, Jethro, although living with Tony recently has got me a bit more used to surprises!"

Arriving at his house, Gibbs was impressed at the quick changes his team had made to the planned welcome. The _Welcome Home Tony and Archie_ banner had been taken down from over the mantelpiece and the words 'Tony and' had been skilfully scraped off the cake and a suitcase made out of frosting put in their place. From the slightly muted reception, however, Gibbs knew that Tony's non-appearance had not been so easily erased from the team's thoughts.

They put a good face on it, however. Abby hugged Archie enthusiastically even though Gibbs suspected that she had had to reapply her mascara very quickly and the others smiled cheerfully and thanked Archie for his messages. They settled Archie on the least lumpy part of Gibbs' couch with a glass of champagne and a piece of cake and waited. Gibbs could see that Archie wasn't sure where to start so decided to kick things off,

"Seems that Tony wasn't coming back with Archie. He's stayed in Rio with Rose."

"With Rose?"

"Who's Rose?"

"How long is he staying?"

The air was filled with a tumult of questions and nobody stopped talking long enough for Archie to answer any of them. Finally Gibbs gave a loud whistle to call them to order and said,

"Let Archie explain."

"Er, right," said Archie, trying to gather his thoughts, "er, I may have given you the wrong impression, Jethro. Rose isn't a person ..."

"... aahh," said Ziva, with a happier expression on her face.

"Then what is she?" asked Abby, "oh ... is she a puppy, a cute little puppy?"

"She could be a boat," suggested Jimmy, "boats are shes."

"That's an interesting possibility, Mr Palmer," said Ducky, "perhaps Anthony is sailing her back?"

Gibbs whistled again. When everyone looked at him, he nodded towards Archie who was still waiting to speak.

"Tim, would you mind going to get my carry-on bag. Jethro, do you have anything I can play a DVD on. I think it might be easier to show you than to explain". Tim jumped up to go and get the bag and said,

"I've got my laptop with me, Boss, if you haven't got a DVD player."

"I've got a DVD player, Tim. Tony insisted I get one," said Gibbs testily. Tim looked apologetic but then looked to where Gibbs was pointing and realised that it was still in its box.

"Um, it'll take a while to set it up, Boss. Why don't I play it on my laptop? It'll be quicker".

Gibbs looked around the faces taut with anticipation and agreed.

Tim powered up his laptop and Archie passed him a DVD. The first frame of the DVD showed _rose_ in small red letters which gradually expanded to fill the whole screen. The letters then got smaller again and each letter was then joined by blue and white ones to form new words: _rio's organization for sporting endeavour_. The letters then faded away as pictures of children playing basketball, soft ball, volley ball, football and other types of game filled the screen. Archie leaned forward and pressed pause.

" _rose_ ", he said, "is an American charity working in Rio with children in the  _favelas_. Those children love sport and the charity founders figured that offering sports coaching draws them in and then they can be offered other types of help as well: education, food, somewhere to sleep. The acronym's a bit forced but I gather the founders thought a rose was a symbol of beauty and wanted that for the name".

"And always in lower case, I see," said Ducky in a slightly pained voice.

"Yep," said Archie, "it's supposed to be hip, or cool, or whatever the word is?"

Gibbs shrugged, he was the most unlikely person in the world to know what the right word would be. He could see that McGee was about to make a suggestion so asked a question of his own.

"So this is the  _rose_  that Tony's got involved with? How did that happen?"

"Two days after we got there, we somehow got invited to a drinks party at the US Consulate. You know, I don't think we went anywhere without Tony knowing someone, or knowing someone who knew someone. The number of invitations we got was amazing. Anyway, we went to this party and got talking with someone who worked for  _rose_. It turned out that one of their coaches had had to go back to the States unexpectedly and they couldn't get a replacement for another six months and they were worried that they'd have to close their program until the replacement arrived."

"And Tony volunteered?" said Tim.

"In the end, yes," said Archie. "We paid a visit the next day and we could see how keen the kids were and how desperately they needed someone."

"But Tony cannot speak Portuguese," said Ziva, "how could he be of help?"

"He already had a smattering," said Archie, "he said there was a Brazilian maid at his parents' house when he was a child and she used to speak to him. And he speaks good Spanish which helps. It was the sport bit they really needed, they've got plenty of translators and he's picking the language up quickly. He says it's about time he actually used that phys ed degree."

"So, he's not going to be there permanently?" asked Abby hopefully.

"Don't think so," said Archie, "the replacement is due in three months. I would have stayed on but we agreed that we need to start work on the movie theatre. Tony's the one with the sport expertise, not me, so I was the one to come back."

"I think you have been teasing us," said Ziva, "telling us that Tony was staying with  _rose_  when all the time you knew he was just playing around with children."

"Well, Ziva," said Ducky, "I think it is more than playing. I know some of the work that is done with the children of the  _favelas_  and it is remarkable. I think we can be very proud of Anthony for doing this work. Can we perhaps watch the rest of the DVD, Gregory?"

Archie pressed the play button and the others watched the rest of the DVD. He thought the team's reaction to  _rose_  had been interesting: they had seemed a bit put out at the thought of Tony having formed a romantic attachment. He was relieved that he hadn't mentioned Sophie!

Sophie Bailey was the current director of  _rose_  and it was she who they had met at the drinks party. She explained that she was nearing the end of a two year stint with  _rose_  and would be returning to the US after that.

"What will you do there?" asked Tony.

"I want to go back to teaching in a public school," said Sophie, "I was brought up in New York and I was teaching there before I came out here."

She and Tony had then started comparing memories of New York and were soon swapping taller and taller stories of their childhood escapades. Sophie and some other  _rose_  workers were going on to dinner after the drinks party and invited Tony and Archie to go with them. Archie decided to go back to the hotel but Tony accepted. It was the beginning of at least a friendship between Sophie and Tony. Archie knew that Tony was genuinely impressed with the work of  _rose_  but wondered if he would have stayed if the charity's director had been a fifty year old male. He kept his own counsel, however, and simply noted that Sophie and Tony were each a little brighter when the other was in the same room.

It was partly true that someone needed to come back to Washington to oversee the building work in Seymour Boulevard but they trusted Ben and Radhika to get on with things there. It was also partly true that Archie had satisfied his wanderlust and was looking forward to living in his own home again. The bigger part of the truth was that Archie thought that Tony would be freer to develop things with Sophie if he didn't feel he had to spend time looking after Archie. So, Archie had announced his intention of returning to the States and Tony, probably understanding most of Archie's thinking, had simply nodded and let him go.

NCISNCIS

Three months later, Seymour Boulevard Movie Theatre was something of a blank canvas. Re-painted, tidied up, new windows and doors, it was waiting for decisions to be made. Tony was due back in a couple of weeks' time and Archie was doing research into various options. Abby, as predicted, suggested some sort of gothic cavern effect; McGee favoured something futuristic and streamlined; Ducky wondered if some sort of Victorian look might not be 'rather striking and effective'. Gibbs thought it looked fine as it was. Archie wondered if Tony might want a reminder of his Brazilian experience and go for a carnival look.

Archie had folders full of paint charts, fabric and floor covering samples and lighting designs to fulfil any or all of the schemes. He went down to the theatre early one Saturday morning to try and decide which  _he_  preferred. He was surprised to see a familiar figure sitting on the doorstep,

"Tony! What are you doing here?"

"Feeling unloved. You changed the locks! Even Senior never went that far!" but he was laughing and jumped up to give Archie a quick hug.

"Well, if someone had told certain people that he was coming home, someone might not have been left locked out," said Archie with mock severity, "but seriously, why didn't you let us know you were coming?"

"I doubt if anyone will believe me, but when I heard about your welcome home party I thought I'd rather give that a miss."

"You do know Abigail Scuito, don't you?" said Archie, "do you really think you have any chance of avoiding some sort of party?"

"No, I guess not. Still, you never know, she might be really busy and not have time."

"Tony, my lad, Abby already has the banner painted, the cake in the freezer, the champagne in the fridge and the streamers poised to stream. She'll be able to get a party organised in ten minutes flat. Nice try, though. When did you get in?"

"Just a couple of hours ago. I can't get into my apartment for a few days – it's being redecorated".

If Archie thought it was odd that Tony should arrange to have his apartment redecorated when he needed it to live in, he didn't say so.

"Where are you going to stay?"

"Hotel, I expect. Anyway, with re-decoration in mind, let's see what we've got here."

So Archie took Tony on a tour of inspection. At the end, Tony said,

"I'm starving. Let's go to the diner and get some breakfast and you can show me those design ideas".

So they went for breakfast and after Tony's hunger pangs were satisfied, Archie showed him the samples and told him everyone's ideas. Tony looked at all of them and thought for a while,

"Which do you prefer, Arch?" he asked.

"Not sure I'm the right person to ask," he replied, "I'm not as trendy as you younger folk."

"Does that mean you'd like to go back to the original look?" said Tony. Archie shrugged his shoulders and Tony went on, "because to tell the truth, I liked the 1950s retro style and I think it was popular. So I'd vote for retro restoration."

"And so would I," said a relieved Archie, "I think I might have had to retire if we'd gone for that Gothic look! I hope Abby won't be too disappointed."

"She'll be fine," said Tony confidently, "I'm going to ask her to work some magic on those damaged posters. She'll be happy to be helping. Are you happy to start this rolling?"

"Sure. Where are you going?"

"I'll be back. I want to go and see Gibbs."

NCISNCIS

Gibbs looked up from his latest woodworking project when he heard footsteps coming down the basement stairs. He thought he recognised them,

"Hey, Boss," came Tony's voice.

"Not your Boss," came the automatic reply.

"You know, I don't think I can break myself of the habit," said Tony, "and Jethro still feels kinda creepy. Not creepy in that it's a weird name, although, seriously Boss, do you ever wish Jackson's best friend had been called John? No, creepy in ... where was I?"

"Digging a hole for yourself," said Gibbs drily but feeling his gut settle at seeing Tony standing in his basement once more.

"Yeah, sorry, Boss, um, Gibbs."

"I don't mind being called Boss, Tony," admitted Gibbs, "So why didn't you tell anyone you were coming back. You know there's no point in trying to fly under the Abby radar. She has a party plan ready for activation at a moment's notice".

"Yeah, Archie pointed out that to me as well. I thought it was worth a try."

"So, you've been to see Archie first?" said Gibbs trying not to be disappointed.

"I wanted to talk to him about the theatre, decide on plans. Business before pleasure, as Senior always said, but never did."

"And what did you decide?" asked a mollified Gibbs.

"We've decided to go for the retro feel again. I think it suits the building and doing something different would mean that Billy Smith had succeeded in destroying something".

"Good choice," said Gibbs.

"How's everyone?" asked Tony.

"If you mean Tim, he's fine and he's turning into a pretty good Senior Field Agent. I took your advice and we're rubbing along pretty well."

"I didn't just mean Tim, but I'm glad you decided that my wisdom was pearl-like."

"Pearls of wisdom?" said Gibbs, "getting a bit over confident are we?" Tony shrugged his shoulders and Gibbs took a closer look at him wondering if his words had had some truth in them. To the casual observer Tony had always seemed to be confident but Gibbs knew that some of that was bravado and a wish to hide certain insecurities. Now, however, Gibbs thought there was a different type of confidence about him. He undoubtedly looked fit and well; those months in warm and sunny climates had benefitted him but there was something else. Gibbs struggled to put a name to it and couldn't come up with anything better than serene: there was a serenity and contentment about Tony which he had never seen before.

Tony shifted uneasily under Gibbs' scrutiny, he smoothed his hair down and wiped his mouth surreptitiously, worried that he had a coffee moustache.

"Er, Boss, I know I've been gone a long time and you want to drink me in, but you're freaking me out a bit here."

Gibbs pulled himself together,

"Tell me about Rio and  _rose_  – gotta tell you that Archie had us all going with that one. Everyone thought you'd hooked up with someone."

Tony's smile stiffened a little, " _rose_  was wonderful. It was a real wrench to leave the kids behind but my replacement is a great guy and he speaks better Portuguese than me. But we hope to go back some time and see how they're doing".

" _We?"_  asked Gibbs, "do you mean you and Archie?"

"Well, I expect Archie would like to go back but I didn't mean him. Um, Boss, just  _how_  much did  _rose_  get people going?

"I think people were surprised, that's all," said Gibbs neutrally, although he wasn't sure that was the whole truth.

"So, they ... you wouldn't mind if I _had_ come back with someone?"

NCISNCIS

McGee tiredly went to the door of his apartment. It had been a long week and one of those weeks when he honestly believed that NCIS Senior Field Agents (or at least Gibbs' version) did at least twice as much work as anyone else on the team. He was well on top of the job now but he sometimes wondered how Tony had seemed to make it seem so effortless. When he opened the door, he thought for a moment that he must be even more tired than he'd thought, he blinked, rubbed his eyes and realised that it really was Tony standing at his door.

"You going to let me in. McJanus?" asked Tony.

Those words convinced Tim that it was Tony standing there.

"Yes, yes, of course. What are you doing here?"

"I've come to see you, why do you think I'm here?"

"I didn't mean that. I meant why are you in Washington?  I thought you weren't back for another ten days. There's no point thinking Abby won't be throwing you a party, it's been planned for three months. She estimates she only needs fifteen minutes to execute it."

"Well, don't light the blue touch paper yet, Tim. Bob, my replacement, arrived earlier than expected, fitted in really well and so I finished a bit earlier. Had some things I wanted to get started in DC."

"It's good to see you, Tony, really good. I can't throw you a party but I ordered a pizza a few minutes ago and it should be here soon. You're welcome to share it."

Tony moaned in delight. "I  _loved_  Rio, don't get me wrong, but I've missed Washington pizza like you wouldn't believe. Is it from Angelo's round the corner?"

At McGee's nod of confirmation, he moaned even more. Tim was very hungry so, out of self-preservation, decided to ring and add a large pepperoni, sausage with extra cheese pizza to his order. Tony smiled in appreciation and said,

"I think I love you, Timbo."

Tim smiled and realised how much he had missed Tony's mutilations of his name.

"Come and tell me about Rio," he said.

Over pizza, Tony told Tim about his work with  _rose_  and his travels with Archie, "Hey, I forgot," he said, "I brought you something back from New Zealand," and he reached into his jacket pocket and drew out a small package which he handed to Tim. Tim opened it, "It's ..." began Tony in explanation.

"... it's Lord Elrond, from Lord of the Rings," said McGee excitedly.

"Yeah, a real elf-lord," said Tony.

"This is great, Tony. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Tim, although I found out that I didn't need to go all the way to New Zealand to buy it. I could have got one in Walmart."

"About that, Tony, I'm sorry that you felt you had to go."

"I didn't go all that way just to get you a figure of Elrond," pointed out Tony.

"You know what I mean, I'm sorry that I was, well, finding it difficult having you round. And thank you for not asking, but it's going well with Gibbs now and I think you might have had something to do with that."

"Hey, the T in my name actually stands for 'tactful', not Tony."

Tim smiled, but persisted with his apology, "No, let me say it, Tony. I was feeling insecure and I didn't handle it well. I'm sorry that you felt you had to go away for so long."

"So let me get this straight, Tim," said Tony, "you're apologising that I went away on a trip through the beauty spots of Europe; that I travelled to other side of the world to one of the loveliest places I have ever been; that I went on safari in Kenya; that I spent six months in one of the liveliest places on earth doing work that I loved?"

"Er, pretty much," said Tim.

"Well, Tim, I  _suppose_  I could let you apologise for all that. But there's one thing I won't let you be sorry for."

"What's that?" asked Tim.

"That I met the woman of my dreams in Rio and we're getting married."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This turned out a bit fluffier than I anticipated


	10. Chapter 10

"So, how did Tony propose?" asked Abby eagerly.

Gibbs and McGee rolled their eyes as if such a question was a typically female one in which they could have no interest. They stayed where they were, however, and waited for Sophie's reply.

Sophie had arrived from Rio a few days after Tony. She and Tony had gone to New York to see her parents and had now come to Washington. Ducky had volunteered his house as a place for the team to meet Sophie: Tony had accepted gratefully feeling that Abby's enthusiasm might be tempered by the elegance of Ducky's brownstone house in Georgetown.

So now the team was gathered in what Ducky called his lounge and enjoying a traditional British high tea. Abby's 'creativity' might have been curbed but her happiness had not. She had greeted Sophie warmly and was now giving her what she termed the _Abby degree_ which was a gentler version of the third degree. The others were happy for her to ask the questions to which they wanted answers but might have felt too diffident to ask themselves.

"So, how did Tony propose?"

"I'm sure it was very romantic," said Ziva, "I seem to remember Tony saying that he nailed his proposal to Wendy."

There was a sound of delicate bone china tea cups clattering in their saucers and a choking cough from Tim,

"Oh, was that inappropriate?" asked Ziva, "but I'm sure Tony has told Sophie about Wendy."

It was perhaps as well that Tony was in the kitchen with Ducky preparing some Welsh Rarebit so he didn't hear what was going on. The others waited with horrified fascination to see what Sophie's response would be. It turned out that she was made of tough stuff. She decided to ignore Ziva's contribution,

"Tony didn't propose," she said, "I proposed to him."

Abby gasped, and then said approvingly,

"You totally rock, Sophie!"

"I agree," said Tony returning with plates of cheesy goodness, "but why in particular?"

"Apparently, you did not propose but were proposed  _to_ ," said Ziva.

"I was getting round to it," protested Tony.

"I do not remember you as being slow in coming forward," said Ziva, "especially with women."

Sophie then proved why she had been so successful for two years as director of a demanding charity organization in a place where firmness, diplomacy and tact had been needed in equal measure,

"Dr Mallard," she said, "Tony has told me about your Welsh Rabbit. I've been looking forward to trying it".

"Actually, my dear," said Ducky, willingly engaging in the job of pouring oil on potentially troubled waters, "I say ' _rarebit'_ but other people say 'rabbit'. In deference to Abigail's vegetarianism, I prefer to say rarebit."

"And why is it sometimes called rarebit?" asked McGee also gamely trying to divert the conversation.

"Aahh, "said Ducky, drawing a deep breath and obviously bracing himself for one of his erudite and lengthy explanations, "I haven't the foggiest idea!"

As Tony and Ducky handed round the plates of cheese on toast, Gibbs moved position to sit next to Ziva. She opened her mouth to say something but before she could do so, Gibbs managed to catch her eye. He shook his head minutely. Ziva closed her mouth.

NCISNCIS

Gibbs was not surprised to have a visitor to his basement later that evening.

"Gibbs," said Ziva, "I think I displeased you this afternoon at Ducky's."

"You think?" said Gibbs.

"I wanted to explain ... I did not mean to upset Tony's fiancée."

"She has a name, Ziva."

"Yes, of course. I did not mean to upset Sophie."

"Then what did you mean to do?"

"We hardly know her, Gibbs. I wanted to be sure that she was ... right for Tony."

"And talking about DiNozzo's former fiancée was going to achieve that how?"

"I ... I ... do not know. I may not have gone about it in the right way."

"Ziva," Gibbs sighed, "you and I are a lot alike ..."

"You do not like her either?"

"I like her fine," said Gibbs firmly, "what I meant was that we both like to be in control and that's what you've always tried to do with Tony. I can guess why that is, but the reason doesn't really matter. You've always tried to prove that you're better than him, to keep him in his place."

"But," said Ziva, "I ..."

"Let me finish," said Gibbs, "you try to contain Tony, and it doesn't work. Lord knows, I tried to do it over the years and I can testify that it doesn't work. You  _think_  it has and then he breaks out. He's like water. You think you've got it contained and safe and it just escapes and leaps up like a fountain.

Ziva laughed, "And we all get wet!"

"That's DiNozzo," shrugged Gibbs, "and I think if you want to be his friend, you're going to have to learn to like Sophie."

"I suppose so," said Ziva reluctantly, "what does your gut say about her, Gibbs?"

"I don't need my gut to tell me anything, Ziva. I just have to look at them together to know that they're right for each other."

NCISNCIS

At about the same time as Ziva and Gibbs were talking in Gibbs' cellar, Sophie and Tony were also discussing Sophie's introduction to the team.

"I'm sorry about Ziva," said Tony.

"That's OK, you'd warned me," said Sophie, "but after what she said I didn't feel like sharing the proposal story!"

"I'm not sure that  _technically_  you proposed to me," said Tony, "I don't think you saying, _Tony, it's all right you can ask me to marry you was a proposal_."

"What would you call it then?"

"More of a _hurry up and get on it with it_ suggestion."

"I think that's quibbling. Tony, if I hadn't said that,  _would_ you have proposed?"

"I hope so! I just hadn't done well in the past at judging how committed people were."

"By people, do you mean women?"

"Not entirely. Mostly perhaps, but there have been men who haven't been quite as honest or supportive as they could have been".

Sophie took his hand and squeezed it, knowing that he was talking about his father and perhaps Gibbs as well. "Well, you know that I'm committed to you, don't you?"

Tony kissed the hand that was holding his. "Yes, and in my defence, I did already have the ring."

"That's true," said Sophie, looking fondly at her engagement ring with its Brazilian emerald.

"So what did you think of my former co-workers?"

"Ducky is charming, Jimmy is sweet, Abby is amazing, Tim is a gentleman, Gibbs ... is someone I will have to take time to think of an adjective for. And Ziva, well, Ziva is combative."

"And you, my love, are very tactful" said Tony.

"Tony, you know that we've talked about having children?"

"Yes ..."

"Well, I realised this afternoon that you already seem to have at least four!"

NCISNCIS

Sophie moved into Tony's newly decorated apartment and found a job as vice principal of an elementary school near Seymour Boulevard for the new school year. The move theatre was restored to its former glory, Radhika rejoiced in her refurbished coffee bar, Abby worked her magic on the torn posters and Archie agreed to lead the workshops on the art of projection.

Tony no longer felt the need to do everything in the theatre and it might have been expected that he would begin to feel a little underemployed. It happened, however, that there was an appeal against the guilty decision arising from one of Tony's last cases with NCIS. Director Vance asked Tony to go to the Navy Yard to go over some of the evidence.

Tony probably wouldn't have to give evidence but Vance wanted to be sure that McGee and Ziva were up to speed with anything the defence lawyers might bring up. The four of them, with Gibbs, met in one of the conference rooms. Tony's old files and notes were brought up from the basement archives and were reviewed. The Director realised that he had never really worked closely with Tony on the nuts and bolts of a case and found himself impressed. Tony's notes were detailed and thorough and he had good suggestions about how Ziva and Tim should answer potential questions.

After a couple of hours, Vance dismissed the MCRT. Tony was about to follow when Vance stopped him,

"DiNozzo, Tony – I appreciate your help this afternoon."

"It's no problem, Director. I was glad to be of help, I don't want Robinson to be back on the streets any more than you do"

"You know, Tony, I've been thinking recently that presentation skills are sometimes a bit lacking in the agency."

"Yes, Director?" said Tony, trying not be freaked out by Vance calling him Tony and wondering if that meant he should call him Leon in return.

"Yes, I've been thinking that we could do with some sort of consultant who could give advice/training on how to behave in court, how to present evidence. Just on a part time, ad hoc basis. I think I could find the money in the budget and it would pay for itself if we had fewer appeals. What do you think?"

"I think that sounds a good idea, Sir," said Tony politely.

"So, would you be interested?"

"In what?"

"In being the NCIS consultant?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. From what I've seen this afternoon you would be well qualified for the job. And I took the precaution of going back over cases where you were called as witness – all exemplary."

"Me?" repeated Tony, "but I've left NCIS."

"And now you could come back. Not as a field agent, I know you don't want to do that. Not full-time. We could arrange a schedule to fit you." Vance saw that Tony still looked a bit little stunned and, mindful of his full diary, moved on briskly, "think about it. Let me know by next Friday." He rose, shook Tony's hand and swept out leaving a thoughtful Tony behind.

It was perhaps inevitable, Tony thought afterwards, that Ziva would ambush him in the men's room although her timing might have been a bit off as he had already zipped up by the time she made her entrance.

"Ziva," he said.

"Tony," she replied.

He waited for a while but when she didn't say anything more, he moved to the door, saying, "Well, this was nice. We should do it again sometime."

"Tony," she said, placing a hand on his arm to stop him. He looked down at the hand and she removed it. "I think I may owe you an apology."

"For what, Ziva?"

"I think I may not have been entirely tactful when I met your ... when I met Sophie. I hope she is not upset."

"Do you?" asked Tony,

"Of course," said Ziva.

"Then why did you think it was a good idea to talk about my previous relationships with my fiancée?"

"I was trying to make light conversation. I may have got it wrong. I sometimes misunderstand your American customs."

"They're your American customs as well now, Ziva and I think you're pretty well acclimated after all time."

"Is it wrong of me to be concerned about you?" demanded Ziva.

"No, it isn't but I don't understand why you said what you did. The only explanation I can think of is that you're jealous."

"Me? Jealous of you?" laughed Ziva.

"It does seem unlikely, doesn't it?" said Tony, "but I used to be an investigator and that seems to be where the evidence leads."

"You are wrong, I am not jealous. I ..."

"You're  _mad_  that I didn't ask your permission."

"That is ridiculous, Tony, you do not need my permission to get involved with a woman."

"Oh, believe me, I know that. But somehow you're angry that you didn't know what was going on; that you didn't get a chance to be in control of it."

"Tony," said Ziva, in an overly patient voice, "I came in here to apologise if I  _accidentally_  upset your girlfriend. I am not jealous. That would be ridiculous, that would imply that I thought there was something between  _us._ "

Tony looked at her thoughtfully for a moment or two. Ziva couldn't quite interpret the expression in his eyes. He seemed to reach a decision, he smiled and said,

"Apology accepted, Ziva. Just so you know, Sophie wasn't upset, she found it rather amusing; but then she is an elementary school teacher – she's used to children". And he left.

Ziva stood staring at the door. For a second or two she thought that the look in Tony's eyes had been one of pity but she dismissed that idea almost immediately. It was just coincidence that the door slammed rather hard behind her when she left.

NCISNCIS

The movie theatre re-opened and, with it, the coffee bar. About a week after the re-opening, McGee paid a visit and found Tony absorbed in a pile of paper work.

"Hi, Tony, that looks interesting!"

"Don't mock me, Hemingway, otherwise if 'Deep Six' ever gets made into a film I won't let you have the premiere here."

"No fear of that," said McGee a little ruefully, "it'd be impossible to cast. Who would you have playing Gibbs? No, don't answer that," he hastened to say, as he could see Tony about to make suggestions. "And you'd never let me hear the end of it if you didn't like who was cast as Tommy. Anyway, my novelist days are over ... at least while I'm working for Gibbs. I never have any time now."

"Well, if you go back to writing poetry with finger snaps," said Tony, "we're thinking of having a monthly poetry recital in here. You might meet some potential mates ... sensitive people of all persuasions like poetry."

"Please don't tell me that you're going to run poetry evenings just to find me a  _girl_ friend?"

"What can I say, McRomeo. When one is in love, one wants everyone to be happy. I'm just a giving sort of guy. And these poetry types drink a lot of coffee, it would be very profitable."

"That's the Tony we know and love," smiled Tim, "and talking of love, where's Sophie?"

"She's gone to New York for a few days."

"You do know, don't you, that Abby is itching for you to name a date. She's got so many plans and ideas that she's going to burst soon."

Tony winced, "you can tell her we're working on it. Anyway, you didn't come here just to tell me to set a wedding date. You didn't, did you?"

"No. I came to tell you that I was talking to a couple of Probies today and they were saying how great your 'court sessions' are. Everyone is saying what a difference they've made."

"Fornell wants me to do something similar for the FBI," said Tony casually.

"Are you going to do it?" gasped Tim.

"Not sure, it would be a bit like going over to the dark side."

"You know, Tony, I half expected you to come and tell me that Vance had asked you to do those sessions?"

"What, to get your _permission_?" asked Tony.

"Not exactly," protested Tim.

"I thought about it," admitted Tony, "but then I decided that Timmy had grown up enough to put up with me being back at NCIS and if you hadn't, well, there wasn't much I could do about it."

"Well, if you  _had_  come, I would have told you that you should do what you wanted to and that I would be fine with it. Although, I do think you owe me a thank you."

"For what?" asked a puzzled Tony.

"For making you go away for a year and meet Sophie. I reckon that deserves something."

"You're right," said Tony, "have a coffee on the house. A small one."

NCISNCIS

Abby continued to fret about the wedding, or lack of it but a few weeks was delighted to receive an invitation to a party at the movie theatre. She ran into the squad room at the Navy Yard flourishing her invitation,

"Yay, this must be the engagement party. They're going to announce the date. I'm so excited – I've got so many ideas! Oh, you have all got invitations too, haven't you?"

Gibbs, McGee and Ziva dutifully waved their invitations.

"And you are all going, aren't you?" pressed Abby, "including you, Gibbs."

They all nodded.

"I am looking forward to it," said Ziva. Gibbs looked at her approvingly; Ziva had made an effort to get to know Sophie and there was the beginning of a real friendship between them.

Gibbs pulled enough strings that the team plus Jimmy and Ducky could be free for the evening of the party and they all arrived together. The theatre had been closed for the evening so that the guests could have the coffee bar to themselves. Radhika had prepared a buffet which Gibbs ignored in favour of getting her to make him a cup of coffee instead. He then retreated to a corner nursing the drink. Ducky saw Archie in another corner and went to talk to him. The others applied themselves to the food.

After a few minutes, Tony called for attention,

"Thank you for coming this evening. I'll let you get back to the food in a few minutes but we have something to tell you."

"We know that some of you," said Sophie, looking at Abby, "have been eager to know when we are getting married."

"YES!" said Abby, "I can't wait."

"So," said Tony, "we're going to tell you tonight."

Abby skipped up and down in glee and clapped her hands excitedly.

"Um," hesitated Tony, "well ..." he looked at Sophie and they seemed to do a mental countdown and then said together,

"We got married at the weekend in New York."

There was a deathly hush.

"You're married?" said Abby, "without us? You got married without us? ... Oh."

"We decided that we just wanted to get married quietly, without any fuss," said Tony.

"It seemed that we either had to have an enormous wedding or a tiny one," explained Sophie.

"And so we went for the tiny one," said Tony.

"My uncle is a minister at a church near where we lived when I was a child," continued Sophie, "so he married us. My parents and Tony's Dad were there but nobody else."

"And afterwards, we went for a picnic in the park," said Tony.

Everyone was silent, staring at the new husband and wife who began to feel a bit uncomfortable under their gaze. The quiet was broken by Ziva,

"It sounds very romantic. Congratulations!" and she went forward to kiss them both.

"It's  _lovely_ ," wailed Abby, "did you take lots of pictures?"

Ziva and Abby had broken the ice and everyone surged forward to add their good wishes. Sophie and Tony breathed a sigh of relief that all seemed to have gone well. Ducky called for a toast and managed a speech of less than ten minutes. When the hubbub had died down, Gibbs cornered Tony,

"Congratulations, Tony. I should have known something was up when Sophie paid that sudden visit to New York."

"Sorry, Boss, we would have liked everyone to be there but we wanted it to be quiet and let's face it, it wasn't going to be quiet with this lot, was it?"

"And you saved a lot of money too," pointed out Gibbs.

Tony blushed, "How did you know?"

"I didn't," said Gibbs smugly, "until now."

"Busted," said Tony as Sophie came to join him, "Gibbs guessed," he said to his new wife.

"A big wedding seemed so extravagant, Jethro," she said, "and we knew a really good charity which could do with a donation. And, you know, it  _was_  lovely."

"And Senior turned up," said Tony, "which was interesting. Hey, I just want a word with Tim. There's a poet I want to introduce him to."

"Tony was pleased that his Dad came," said Sophie, "although he tried to hide it. And he only invited him after he'd made sure my parents aren't rich enough to tempt him! You're not angry, are you, Jethro?"

"No," said Gibbs, "I'm proud of you both."

EPILOGUE

About a year later, Gibbs was sitting rather tiredly in his basement. He and the team had been in Norfolk for a week tracking down a gang who was stealing supplies. He had got back a couple of hours before and was now looking forward to some quiet time alone with his latest project. He sighed when he heard the front door open and shut and then familiar footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Hey, Boss," said Tony.

Gibbs stared at him. Tony was holding a small bundle wrapped in a pink blanket.

"She arrived?" asked Gibbs.

"Two weeks early," said Tony proudly, "but she's doing fine". He looked down and touched his daughter's cheek gently. "Gibbs, meet Queenie ..."

Gibbs stared at him.

"... Brazillianna,"

The stare turned into a glare,

"...DiNozzo!"

"...Dolcelatte ..."

"DiNozzo, do you mean to tell me that you've called your daughter after an Italian cheese!"

Tony laughed, "Sophie didn't think you'd fall for it but she was wrong!"

He handed the sleeping baby to Gibbs,

"Gibbs, meet Rose Elizabeth Bailey DiNozzo. Rosie, meet Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who I hope is going to be a big part of your life."

Gibbs cradled the baby's head gently with his hand, it was almost like a head slap,

"Good job, Tony, good job."

 


End file.
